


And Then I’ll Read The Books (If I Have Time To Spare)

by zaynealt



Category: Disney - All Media Types, Tangled (2010), Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: F/M, Fantasy, Flowey Is Sarcastic But Good, Papyrus Is The Only Character With Braincells, Tangled Crossover, alternate universe — fantasy, toriel is a good mom
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-24
Updated: 2019-04-03
Packaged: 2019-11-05 03:44:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 19,782
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17911376
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zaynealt/pseuds/zaynealt
Summary: Sans can’t let Papyrus know that he’s stealing in order to keep them afloat. After all, Pap is part of the Monster Kingdom Royal Guard, and stealing is something they put a stop to.So he’s got to hide somewhere.Unfortunately, the tower ruins he found out past Snowdin? They actually contain a woman. And this fiesty woman who goes by “Frisk” is a real pain in his patella.





	1. Prologue

Once Upon a Time, there was a child.

A child who fell down a cliff, which was actually pretty uncommon in those days, because this cliff was pretty tall. It may not have been life threatening, but nobody would know that because no humans had ever bothered trying to test the theory.

But, this one particular child, who was either very brave or very stupid, tumbled down the cliff.

And into the Kingdom of Monsters.

Now, the Human Kingdom and the Monster Kingdom were kept very separate, due to their inherent dislike for each other. But when this human child fell, she ran into none other then the Prince Of Monsters himself.

The Prince took in the Human as his own sibling, and they grew up together, close as could be.

Until the Human’s untimely death, on the same day as the Prince’s. 

They were murdered... by humans.

The Monster King was furious at the loss of his two children, and declared war on humans. Not active war, anyway, but war where any Human who crosses the border would be killed.

But children, in their nativity, can’t help but be curious. And it wasn’t long before another human girl had climbed down the cliff into the monster half of the continent.

But this human girl was the daughter of the King and Queen of Humans... and therefore the sole inheritor of the Determination magic.

The King, it seemed, couldn’t bring himself to kill her. He invited the child in for tea and let her sleep in the castle.

But the next day, the child was gone.

The Kingdom went into uproar, everyone searching desperately for the missing child. They were sure she had been either killed or was kidnapped.

The Human Kingdom threatened the Monsters for the loss of their princess, but the Monsters did not know where she was either. So in the end, the Humans had to drop the issue, leaving their precious Determination girl.

She was never seen again.

But, to this day, the King still sits high in his castle, mourning the loss of three precious children...

And to this day, on the princess’s birthday, the King and Queen of Humans release a Determination Star into the sky in remembrance of who they lost...


	2. When Will Our Lives Begin?

Sans heaved himself up onto the roof, panting slightly. Climbing buildings was not the best time a monster can have, if you asked him.

It was a little bit worth it, though, when he turned around and gazed wonderingly at the view.

He could see all of the Monster Kingdom from up here— he had to hold one skeletal palm up to block out the sun, but— yep. There was Snowdin, in the far distance. Waterfall, Hotland... the Capital, nearest to him. If he squinted, he could see the monsters bustling around, buying from the market or just generally going about their daily lives.

Sans sighed and let himself just enjoy the warmth of this rooftop for a moment, and the cloudy blue sky above. It was kind of dangerous for him to be out in daylight, but his partners had insisted, so that’s the way it was going to be.

Funny how life worked out like that.

Sans rapped his knuckles on the roof tiles, signaling that he was ready to go.

The two lion monsters sent him a glare as they pulled out their long length of rope.

The taller one— Ben, maybe?— tied the end of it around Sans’s waist (not gently) and tugged. Sans managed to keep his balanced, and glared at Ben(?).

“We better make this quick,” the other lion— probably Leo— growled softly.

“Yeah,” Sans agreed, leaning over and looking into the trapdoor the two other monsters had opened. “We should quit all this lion around.”

Leo and Ben snarled their displeasure, and the skeleton feigned innocence.

“Just get the loot and be done with it,” snapped... Ben. Sans mock saluted and jumped into the trapdoor, the rope bouncing just in time to catch him before he hit the podium.

The lights in the short skeleton’s eyes brightened when he saw the artifact in person for the first time. A tiara, glittering with gems to compliment its color scheme... mostly rubies, of course.

Sans grinned and reached forward with nimble fingers, carefully avoiding the human who was guarding the precious item with his back to Sans.

Within a minute, Sans had swiped the tiara and stuck it into his satchel. He tugged on the rope. Leo and Ben slowly started pulling him back up.

On the ground, the human guard yawned and glanced back at his podium in boredom before turning back around. The soldier suddenly did a double take as he realized that the tiara was not there, and then glanced up to see Sans hanging just below the ceiling.

“What are you doing?!” The poor guard cried out.

Sans grinned and waved a little. “Obviously, it’s my ‘crowning achievement’, bucko.”

The soldier only stood with his jaw hung slack as Sans disappeared up the trapdoor, climbing onto the roof. Ben and Leo were waiting with matching displeased expressions.

“Guys,” Sans said jubilantly, “don’t take this the wrong way, but I THINK I was seen.”

Leo snatched the satchel away from the skeleton with a growl, and then all three of them were off, leaping across the rooftops and across the border.

“I can’t believe this!” Sans smiled as he dodged a volley of arrows from behind them. “A whole human fleet all for us! They won’t come into the Monster Kingdom, right?”

Ben(?) froze as they slid down the cliff face and sat behind some bramble silently. He raised one paw and tapped the poster on the oak tree in front of them.

‘WANTED: SANS THE SKELETON: FOR CROSSING THE BORDER, PROVOKING HUMANS, THIEVERY, AND GENERALLY BEING A NUISANCE.

REPORT TO MONSTER ROYAL GUARD WITH SIGHTINGS. REWARD.’

Oh, right. Human soldiers weren’t exactly the only thing Sans had to worry about.

He ripped the paper off the tree, balling it up on his fist as he muttered “someone could SEE that.”

Leo snorted and then beckoned the two others to follow him further into monster territory.

“Hey, bud?” Sans mumbled after a bit of uneventful walking, sticking his thumb in between his vest and his ratty button-up. “Pretty sure this is one of the main areas that the monster Royal Guard is heightening patrols on.”

 

“How would you know that?” The lion who was probably Ben grumbled, pushing brush aside to let them through.

“Well—“ Sans started, but he never got to finish because a dog suddenly burst from the bushes behind them.

He shouted in surprise and backed up as the dog— a ROYAL GUARD dog— saw them and barked loudly, alerting the rest of the patrol.

Leo (or maybe Ben) swore under his breath and ran into the forest with the satchel that he refused to let Sans carry. Sans followed, anxiety growing as he heard the crashing in the bushes behind them.

“Hey!” The skeleton shouted, matching pace with the two lions somehow. “The patrol’s getting clos—“ and he was clocked in the ribs by a spear.

The skeleton sat up, glaring at the blue spear that had thrown him into the bushes.

“Hey! No need to ‘spear’ my feelings!”

The Captain of the Royal Guard burst out from the underbrush, brandishing another spear in her hands.

“Sans,” she hissed, her gills flaring.

“Undyne,” Sans responded, grinning. The fish monster woman was fiercely glaring at him. “Hate to cut this short, but I’ve got to go.” He stood up and started running in the opposite direction, nimbly dodging the spears thrown at him.

Battle cries sounded behind him as the captain caught up. Sans lifted himself up over a branch and to a small boulder.

Leo and Ben looked down at him.

“Little help, pals?” The skeleton pleaded with a smile. Leo and Ben exchanged a glance and snorted. 

Ouch. They weren’t gonna help him, were they?

Leo and Ben started walking away with disdainful sniffs.

“Guess you guys don’t want this, huh?” Sans asked, waving the satchel up at them.

Leo gasped, looking from his own belt and back to Sans again. “How—“

“Bye, boys!” The short skeleton smiled, and disappeared down into the underbrush.

The two lions spluttered at the loss of their bounty as the fish captain raced forward. She spotted the two monsters and threw spears at them, not bothering to be careful. 

Leo roared at Undyne, as Ben turned around to try and run in the opposite direction. But they soon found themselves to be surrounded on all sides by Royal Guard members, who growled and tightened the circle.

“Sorry, guys,” Undyne grinned, showing her huge teeth. “You’re done for today.”

——————————————

Sans ran for all his life was worth- which actually wasn’t much, so he ran for much more then that.

If he had skin, his knuckles probably would have gone white with how tight his grip on his satchel was.

He’d almost made it all the way through Snowdin by now— he hadn’t stopped going, although he had to take a break from running every once in a while.

He was almost out of monster territory and into the forest beyond, where, hopefully, he’d be safe for a while.

The skeleton allowed himself a moment to breathe on the edge of Snowdin, checking his satchel for the umpteenth time.

Tiara was still there. 

Sans froze as he heard someone crashing through the bushes with no subtlety, and blanched as he realized he hadn’t brought any sort of weapon whatsoever.

He got himself into a position that would allow him to run or fight depending on what happened as the person in the forest got closer and closer until—

A tall skeleton burst out, blinking in surprise at Sans. Sans blinked a few times right back.

“Pa— Papyrus?”

The taller skeleton straightened his back, the red cape that was slung over one of his shoulders sliding down. The golden armor glinted in the sun, pristine and well-cleaned, contrasting largely to Sans’s vest and jeans.

“BROTHER, I CANNOT BELIEVE YOU,” Papyrus scolded. His bone eyebrows furrowed as he glared down at the much shorter skeleton.

Sans began to sweat. “Uh...”

“STEALING FROM HUMANS? REALLY?” 

“Pap— I—“

“I WILL HAVE NONE OF YOUR EXCUSES! WHAT YOU’VE DONE IS UNACCEPTABLE.”

Sans shrunk into the collar of his shirt like a turtle.

“IT’S VERY UNLIKE YOU TO DO SOMETHING LIKE THIS,” Papyrus went on, his tone growing more concerned. Sans almost sighed in relief... so Undyne hadn’t told Papyrus about all of his... previous crimes. 

Papyrus suddenly zeroed in on the satchel at Sans’s waist. “THAT’S WHAT YOU’VE STOLEN, ISN’T IT?” He stuck one open gloved hand out. “GIVE IT HERE.”

Sans placed one hand over his satchel protectively. “... I can’t do that, Pap.”

Papyrus’s expression changed to surprise. “BROTHER, CROSSING THE BORDER IS ILLEGAL. STEALING FROM HUMANS IS UNTHINKABLE. YOU COULD START A WAR.”

Papyrus’s outstretched hand made a grabbing motion. “PLEASE GIVE IT HERE.”

Sans didn’t break eye contact with Papyrus as he stared, and, very slowly, shook his head.

Papyrus’s gaze grew hard. “VERY WELL THEN... IF THAT’S HOW IT HAS TO BE.”

He pulled a sword out of his belt with a practiced flourish.

And Sans only looked for a second before he turned and bolted.

“SANS!” Echoed his brother’s voice behind him, but he didn’t stop, because he was running further away from Snowdin, and to the forest beyond.

——————————————

The sun was shining, and the clouds were floating over the sparkling blue sky.

The young woman sighed and stuck her head out the window, looking into the flowerbed on the sill. She stared at it for a few seconds before expertly reaching out one hand and poking the single golden flower, which immediately recoiled.

“Darn it Frisk!” The little flower snapped. The face on its’ center revealed itself in a frown. “I was sure that was a good hiding spot!”

Frisk giggled and moved to sit on the windowsill with her legs dangling out. She looked down, vaguely noting the seventy-foot drop and the grass below her tower.

“It was, Flowey,” Frisk agreed, kicking. “But I’m just that good at seeking.”

“Sure,” the flower muttered grumpily, and the human smiled and scooped him up, setting him on her shoulder. Flowey wrapped his vines around her subconsciously, gazing out the window for a moment longer.

A ‘bong’ sounded in the room behind them, seven times. Frisk grinned and reached back to pat her flower, her short choppy brown hair swinging. 

“It’s seven in the morning. Time to start the day!” Frisk slid down from the windowsill and into the tower room. With a small spin, she turned on the oven so it could warm up while they were working.

Frisk whisked around and snatched the broom from the corner, sweeping the upstairs and downstairs of her little tower as best as she could. When she was done, she cleaned the dishes and waxed the staircase. When she was done with that, she cleaned her laundry (which was only a few outfits of hers, and a few robes of her mother’s) easily.

Frisk surveyed the room with a slight frown before going to get the broom again and sweep a final time. You couldn’t be too clean, after all.

“Want to play chess, Flowey?” Frisk asked with a sigh as she put the broom back in its place.

The flower, who was resting in a pot across the room, visibly perks up (and then immediately pretended he hadn’t). “Fine”.

Frisk beat Flowey at chess in a best of five games, and then decided it was a good time to paint.

With a length of rope, Frisk had long ago created a mechanism that suspended her from her ceiling, allowing her to paint her walls. Most of the paintings were of Flowey, or Frisk, or her mother. Some of them were the angels Frisk saw in Fairytale books.

However, a good expanse of her wall was taken up by stars. Odd, four-pronged Stars that popped up in the oddest of places. Whenever she felt like painting one, she just did. Or at least... the paintings looked like stars. But Frisk has a feeling deep in her soul that they were something different.

She had been copying the shape from the very odd star— the glimmering light that appeared and floated in the sky every night on her birthday. It was so convenient that it appeared on her own birthday... Frisk sometimes felt that maybe the star was meant for her, even if that wasn’t true.

“Gosh, do you ever paint anything else?” Flowey complained as yet another star appeared under Frisk’s brushes.

“It’s important to me, Flowey,” Frisk sighed as she added highlights. “And we might see it tomorrow. Aren’t you excited for that?”

Flowey didn’t answer, which Frisk had long since learned meant that he was excited but didn’t want to admit it.

She smiled and looked out her window. Tomorrow, she turned eighteen. Which was technically adulthood.

And maybe... if she was lucky... her mother would think she was mature enough to leave the tower for the first time.

Maybe.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you guys like this because it’s just blatant self-indulgence haha
> 
> <3
> 
> Comment what you think! Critique is appreciated, I’m still a new writer!


	3. Mother Knows Best

Frisk hummed to herself, watering the flowers in her windowsill. Flowey was muttering in the side about how he wanted water, too. Frisk was choosing to ignore him for the time being.

Suddenly, a bell that was hanging next to the window began to ring cheerily. The choppy haired girl gasped with surprise and set down her watering can.

Frisk leaned over the sill, waving down to the woman who had rung the bell.

“Mom!” Frisk shouted, smiling.

“There you are, my child,” The goat monster answered, bowing in her robes. “Send the rope down, will you?”

The girl nodded, reaching next to the windowsill to pull a swing made out of rope up. She dropped it out of the window, watching as it fell the long distance before catching at the end of its’ length.

Toriel smiled and sat in the swing, beginning to pull one side of it. Frisk helped, starting up the wheeled pulley mechanism until the goat monster reached the windowsill and safely got inside.

“Good morning, my child,” Toriel said, kissing the top of Frisk’s forehead. “Guess what!”

Frisk giggled and sat on a stool in the middle of the tower. “What?”

“I’ve gotten stuff for Butterscotch-Cinnamon pie! Your favorite!”

Frisk clapped politely, watching as Flowey hid himself in the flower pots. He was oddly shy around Toriel, although she had seen him before.

“So, Frisk,” Toriel set down her basket, smiling. “It is your birthday tomorrow. What... do you think you would like as a gift?”

Frisk kicked her feet forward.

“I was hoping we... could go see the floating star?”

Toriel blinked, staring at Frisk with intensity.

“The...” Toriel swallowed. “The what, darling?”

Frisk slowly met Toriel’s ruby eyes. “There’s a floating star that appears every year on my birthday. I want to see it.”

Toriel sat down across Frisk with a sigh.

“You want to go outside? Frisk, darling, look at you. You’re too young.”

“But—“ 

“You know why we stay up in this tower,” Toriel cooed, moving to start combing Frisk’s choppy brown hair.

“I—“

“That’s right! To keep you safe and sound, dear. I guess I always knew you’d want to leave the nest... but trust me, child, mother knows best.”

Frisk sighed as Toriel brushed her dark brown hair out.

“Listen to me, child— it’s a scary world out there. Humans and monsters, all seeking to harm you just to take advantage of your Determination Magic.”

“I know, I know,” Frisk mumbled. “But, mom, I—“

“Ruffians! Thieves! Poison ivy, quicksand— cannibals and snakes— the plague!”

“No!”

“Yes! Also large bugs— men with pointy teeth, and— stop, no more, you’ll just upset me!”

Frisk opened her mouth to say something else, but she was immediately cut off by the goat monster.

“Listen to your mother. Something will go wrong if you leave, I swear.”

Frisk grumbled as Toriel moved around to her front and sat in front of her. The goat’s ruby eyes were brimming with tears.

“Don’t forget it— you’ll regret it.”

Toriel wrapped her arms around the young woman, muffling Frisk’s face.

“Mother knows best.”

When Toriel left the tower for the day, she kissed Frisk’s forehead, and they exchanged their “I love you”s. When Toriel left, Frisk sighed and leaned on the closet doors, rubbing her arms as Flowey poked his head out from his hiding spot.

“What are we going to do, Flowey?”

Frisk sighed and looked longingly at the window.

“We’re stuck here forever.”

———————————————————

 

Sans let out a gasping, shuddering breath as he staggered into a new clearing.

The forest out here was so big, and complicated, and he didn’t really know where any safe places were. He seemed to recall a nice bush shelter near Snowdin, but he couldn’t stay close to Snowdin anymore. Papyrus was sure to be looking for him— probably most of the Royal Guard as well.

Sans didn’t want to test himself against Undyne’s spears— he had little to no chance of surviving that encounter, and Sans more or less had a survival instinct.

He wasn’t one of the strongest monsters.

Only monsters who trained in the palace learned any sort of fighting— monsters in themselves were a pacifist species, generally. Undyne and Papyrus (and others like them) has the advantage of fierce preparation, and weapons forged specifically to their tastes. For Undyne, it was electric-charged spears she kept slung on her back. For Sans’s brother, it was sword fighting. 

Sans had none of these, so he had to rely on pure determination and wits. A scrappy skeleton monster making his living through thievery? Yeah, that was like asking for a bad time.

He leaned one metacarpal palm against a rock face overgrown with vines. The sun beat down on his ratty blue vest and button-up.

Suddenly, the vines he was leaning against gave way, and Sans fell through them onto cold dirt. When he looked up again, he was in a tunnel.

“Huh. Guess those vines really caved under the pressure,” Sans whispered to himself, grinning. Then he realized he was lying in the dirt in a cave laughing at his own jokes, and thought that, yes, his life really had come to this.

Pushing himself up off the ground, Sans brushed off his jeans and started through the tunnel.

It opened up into a huge clearing, nestled in between two mountains. 

Sans inhaled slowly at the tall ruined tower planted in the middle. He must’ve somehow found the only entrance to a very old monster sanctuary.

The skeleton stuffed his hands in his pockets, wandering through the old and overgrown fields. As he reached the building, he reached out and ran his phalanges over the dusty rock.

Yep. This tower must’ve been abandoned for a long time.

Sans wrapped his hand around the brick, hoisting himself up. 

An abandoned tower in the middle of nowhere?

Welp.

Can’t get more safe then that.

——————————————

Frisk sighed as she stretched her back, hearing a few satisfying cracks. 

Flowey made a disgusted face at her, which only prompted the human to grin and stick her tongue out. The victory was short-lived, though, because they were facing a real problem here.

“So how are we gonna do this, Flowey?” Frisk grumbled, sitting down. “We’ve got to convince Mom that I can handle myself out there. But how can we do that if I never go out there?”

“Obviously, we fail, and we just stay home,” Flowey offered, preening.

“Not helping!” Frisk snapped. She sighed and tugged at her overalls. “If only there was a way to prove to her I could handle myself, without going outside.”

The young woman and her flower sat in relative silence for a moment, contemplating.

Then, there was a crash from downstairs.

Frisk shot up, fear on her face. She reached over and grabbed the nearest object— a long and thick stick that she used for sword fighting games— and held it over her shoulder like a baseball bat as she started stalking down he stairs.

Oh my word. There was a skeleton in her tower.

There was a SKELETON. In her TOWER.

Not the dead kind that Frisk sometimes saw in her anatomy books— a live, monster skeleton.

Frisk took a shaky breath. How had he gotten in here? Weren’t the ruins hidden? She didn’t understand.

And she didn’t need to either, she realized to herself, recalling everything her mother had ever told her. Men with pointy teeth— ruffians, thugs, thieves— all sent to find her for her rare magic.

Of course, they’d get a nasty surprise when they found out that Frisk didn’t actually know how to work her magic. In fact, the only reason they knew she had any was her telling golden eyes (that sometimes flashed red in the mirror). The thugs, however, might just decide that Frisk was pretending to not know how to work it, and then beat her. Who knows how thugs work.

With a deep breath, Frisk snuck up behind the monster. He still hadn’t turned around to see her— he seemed to busy shuffling through a satchel of his looking for something. His clothes weren’t very high-end or fancy. Just a blue vest thrown over a grayish-white button up and jeans.

Frisk slowly raised up her stick. She wasn’t sure why she was hesitant. This obviously bad skeleton creature had snuck into her home. She should beat him right now.

“Alone at last,” the Monster said to himself, and Frisk jumped, bringing down her weapon so hard it cracked against the things’ skull.

The skeleton immediately crumpled face first to the ground, dropping his bag. Frisk gasped and set down her weapon. She already felt bad.

Flowey, who’d followed her downstairs, settled against her shoulder and peered disdainfully at the monster on the floor. They stared at the body for what felt like ages.

“Did I kill him?” She whispered fearfully.

“Nah,” the flower snorted. “He probably just has a concussion and is being a total baby about it.”

Frisk poked the skeleton nervously with her toe. He didn’t react. She reached over and slowly turned his head, checking for pointed teeth. His teeth were not pointed. In fact, they seemed pretty square, and fused to his jaw. She prodded his face, wondering how his eyes shut.

“Well, we’ve got to hide him,” Flowey suggested. “Mom will be really upset if she gets home and there’s a guy on the floor.”

“Yeah, you’re right,” Frisk said, nodding. “I’ll put him in the closet.”

It took several tries, because some part of the mangy skeleton seemed to fall out of the the closet no matter how she tried to close it.

When they FINALLY closed the closet, Frisk shoved a chair against the door, so it couldn’t fall open again.

With a sigh, the flower and the girl sat on the cold tile floor.

“WAIT!” Frisk yelled suddenly, and the Flower on her shoulder jumped. “THIS can be our proof to Mom!”

She turned and grinned at him, eyes sparkling in the light. “If Mom sees that we totally took out a guy, she’ll definitely let us leave!”

Flowey frowned, humming a little to himself. “I don’t know.”

“It’ll work! It has to work!” Frisk smiled huge, standing up and brushing off her sweater. “This will change everything.”

And so the human and the flower sat and waited for the goat monster to return home.

—————————————

Toriel climbed over the windowsill and set the pulley rope to the side, humming to herself. She smiled when she saw Frisk sitting patiently in the room, waiting for her.

“My child, I’ve finished business for the day. I got everything from the market and I even brought new seeds for the windowsill.”

The goat monster did a double take at Frisk’s odd expression and demeanor.

“What’s wrong, child?”

Frisk shuffled her feet nervously.

“Uh... mom, I have something to show you.” The flower on her shoulder bobbed his head.

The girl took a deep breath. “I can prove that I’m strong enough to survive.”

“What?!” Toriel exclaimed, dropping her basket. “Frisk, is this about going outside? We’ve talked about this.”

Toriel’s mind was racing. What if one of the Monsters attacked Frisk for being human, or what if someone noticed her eyes? Not to mention that there was no way Frisk could ‘prove herself’ without a battle. That wasn’t possible, unless Frisk wanted to fight Toriel... and Toriel refused to fight a defenseless girl.

“But— you don’t understand, Mom, I found something—“

“I understand perfectly well,” Toriel snapped. “You want to prove yourself. Well, child, I refuse to let you. You are staying here and that is final.”

She felt a little bad when Frisk’s face fell, but pushed down the guilt in favor of protecting her child.

“Uh... I just... wanted to know if I could have more paint for my birthday.”

Toriel blinked several times. “That’s a very long trip to the Capital.”

Frisk wrung her hands silently and Toriel sighed.

“Alright. I’ll get you some. I’ll see you when I get back, okay?”

The worried goat mom gave Frisk a huge hug, patting her on the back. Frisk softly returned the hug, and then watched as Toriel grabbed some bags and made for the window.

“I’ll see you when I get back, okay? I love you.”

“I love you too, mom.” Frisk mumbled.

As Toriel’s horns disappeared under the windowsill, Frisk walked over and peered over the edge.

When Toriel walked through the vines that covered the hidden tunnel, Frisk turned around and ran for the closet.

She grabbed the chair with her hands and glared at the closet doors, filled with Determination.

“I am going to see the floating star,” Frisk hissed. Flowey looked at her with worry.

“This Guy might be my only chance to leave!” the girl snapped. “He got here— he can be our guide out.”

And with a deep breath, Frisk pulled open the doors.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Outfit/Design Guide:
> 
> Frisk: A blue and pink striped sweater, but it’s much too small for her by now. It works sort of like a crop top and the sleeves end at her elbows. It’s got many stitches in it from adjustments Toriel has done over the years. She wears overalls that cover the space her small sweater doesn’t, so no skin is showing.
> 
> Toriel: basically her original outfit, but the Deltarune has been removed and it has a hood so she can hide her face while traveling.
> 
> Sans: similar to “Flynn Rider”’s outfit, he wears a vest over a button-up and jeans. The only difference is that his vest is blue.
> 
> Papyrus: he wears an old-fashioned guardsmen outfit, with golden breastplates and shoulder plates. A red cape is swept over his shoulder.
> 
> Undyne: she also wears an old-fashioned Guard outfit (which makes her look kind of like a nutcracker) and silver armor. 
> 
> Hope you enjoyed this long chapter! I might go on a hiatus so I though I’d give you something earlier then I planned to.


	4. This Is When

When Sans woke up, he knew he was in trouble.

That being said, he wasn’t entirely too concerned, because he had woken up worse before. Living life with most of the Royal Guard constantly after your skull meant living life on the edge.

Sans always managed to play it off with a dumb joke and a blatant uncaring attitude about being captured. This usually pissed off whoever had captured him, and they often demanded he “take things seriously damn it!”

But he didn’t take it seriously, because he always got away. 

And that is why, when Sans woke up tied to a chair in a dark tower, he barely batted an eyelid before making a pun.

“Yaknow, I tried climbing up this tower, but there were no grips. Believe me, I couldn’t make it up.” The skeleton winked into the dark room, totally unfazed by his hands tied behind his back or the large amount of rope around his chest.

Something moved in the tower, shifting against the floor near the wall across from him. Sans directed his attention in that direction, grinning.

“The rocks that make up this thing gotta me more then a thousand seven hundred and sixty yards.” 

He listened as the incredibly soft footsteps drew nearer, building to the punch line.

“Must be some kinda milestone.”

The was a small huff, like the other person in the room muffled a laugh. Nice. Someone with a sense of humor.

The monster better come out soon, though. He was getting a little tired of this waiting game. Most monsters liked to announce why they stole him and what they needed the money for. They didn’t keep him sitting for this long.

“Skeleton,” said a voice coldly, and Sans almost was surprised, because the voice was younger then he thought it would be. “What is your name?”

Sans rested his head on the back of the chair, giving himself the illusion of confidence. He was growing increasingly more curious about the figure in the shadows speaking to him.

“Sans,” he drawled lazily, “I’d shake your hand, but I’m all tied up at the moment.”

There was a choking noise, and then the creature stepped into the light from the roof.

And, well, it was a darn good thing that Sans was tied to his chair because he would’ve fallen out of it.

A human girl was speaking to him. A human. Past the border? Not only that, but so far past the border that she was in the forest beyond? Absolute madness. She was holding a stick— which must have been used to knock him out, from the way a spot on the back of his skull groaned in protest.

She brandished the stick at him, trying to look threatening, but in her paint-stained overalls and short sweater she wasn’t doing a very good job of it.

“My name is Frisk,” she said, stepping close enough that her choppy brown hair moved out of the way of her face.

Sans sucked in a breath, noticing immediately the sparkle of Golden Eyes.

Gold eyes weren’t a thing he focused on. He hadn’t even thought about them in years, really. The last time he had actively thought about golden eyes was probably in the orphanage.

Everyone knew the stories. Humans born with golden eyes, who supposedly had control over time and space. They could kill you with a single look. They could sing and make monsters do their bidding. They could change events and directly alter a monsters’ soul code. They could harbor destruction with a single talisman.

Most of it was talk, speculation, old legends and rumors— not to be relied upon. But Sans felt all of them returning to his head in full force as the human with glittering eyes stared him down in full force.

“Well? Aren’t you gonna say anything?” She asked, sounding as if she wasn’t sure whether or not to be snappish.

“Uh— wh— ‘eye’ see what you’re saying there, pal,” Sans smiled. “Frisk, huh? Nice name, Goldie.”

Frisk’s face changed abruptly, and if Sans hadn’t spent so long studying expressions, he may not have caught how she became absolutely terrified for one quick second before seething with anger.

“We don’t talk about my eyes!” She snapped, holding the stick above her head. Sans winced.

Something moved among her hair, and then a flower poked out, glaring at the skeleton with fervor. 

“We don’t talk about her eyes, bonebag!” The flower snapped, and Sans almost passed out. 

“Okay! Got it. No mentioning the eyes. Can I go home now, Goldie?”

Frisk sniffed, regaining proper posture.

“No, you may not.” With nimble feet, she jumped up onto the chair, support beam, and then strutted over to a very large set of curtains across from the rooms’ only window. Frisk pulled the curtains apart with a theatrical whoosh, displaying a painting of miraculous stars across a beautiful night sky.

But there was a single obvious difference— Frisk tapped the Star with her finger.

“See this?” She asked.

Sans looked at her until he realized she wasn’t being rhetorical. “Uh, yeah.”

“Can you take me to this?” She asked, eyes pleading, hands clasped together, and even the flower on her shoulder looking at him with expectation.

Sans burst out laughing.

“Y-you want me to take you to the Capital? To go the the Star?” He was laughing so hard now. “No offense, Goldie, but I don’t know you. At all. Why would you trust me?”

Not to mention he was kind of on the run from several justices, and needed to quickly get precious cargo back into the city and sold to someone.

Frisk climbed down from the beam, resting in front of his chair with a look on her face.

“Listen, Skeleton man,” she said fervently, “I believe in fate. And something brought you here today, meaning it is pure destiny that you have to help me.”

“That’s not how that works,” Sans replied easily, “and you definitely don’t have enough money saved up to put in a trust fund.”

Frisk wrinkled up her nose, almost adorably. “What’s a ‘trust fund’?”

“It means I’m not going to help you,” Sans tiredly explained.

“Oh,” Frisk said, almost devilishly. “I thought you might say that. Which is why I have one more reason you should help me.”

She leaned over, forcing him to meet her golden eyes.

“I’ve taken your satchel, and I’ve hidden it. Somewhere you’ll never find it.”

Sans blinked several times and looked around. “You TOOK my satchel?” Without that, he’d be over. Months of hard work wasted. Years, really, if you counted all the training Sans had done to get to this point.

“And she hid it,” hissed the flower. Sans did not like him. “Somewhere you won’t find it.”

“Listen, plant,” he began, his panic growing steadily, “I need that satchel. It’s got some important stuff in it. Like, for real. I need that, okay? So I’ll just take it and be out of your hair.”

“Nope!” The human girl answered cheerfully, popping the ‘p’. “You see, that satchel is going to stay right here, hidden away, until you take me to see the Star.”

Sans sat staring at her, his jaw working a little bit. So she was going to play dirty? Okay. He could respect that. It wasn’t like he was a tried or true fellow himself.

But that tiara was extremely valuable. If he were to not have it, then all of his work for the past few days would have been for nothing. Not to mention... everything else.

He sat in silence, furiously realizing that the best solution to this problem would have to be actually helping the girl. The tiara could stay nice and safe up in her abandoned tower, and he could quickly escort her to the Capital and bring her back as fast as physically possible.

Frisk seemed to mistake his silence for defiance and became less confident.

“Please?” She said. “I just— it’s been my dream for my whole life, and I’m finally turning eighteen tomorrow, but my mom won’t let me leave this tower— ever— but she’s not here right now, so maybe if you could show me the way she’d never even know I was gone—“

“Alright! Alright,” Sans agreed harshly. “Just stop talking.”

Frisk looked at him and then smiled, a full bright smile that highlighted the gold in her eyes. Sans looked away and grumbled something about humans.

Welp. Looks like he had an assignment now.

It’s okay, though... this would probably be no different from his other jobs.

——————————————

Frisk could hardly contain her delight. This was happening. This was actually, really happening!

She untied the skeleton monster so that he could walk around again.

It honestly frightened her a little to have a dangerous creature free in her tower, but she soon realized from his slight slouch and the way he constantly stuck his hands in his pockets that maybe he wasn’t that much of a threat.

Frisk gathered up the rope she had used to bind the monster to the chair and stated threading it back into the pulley wheels.

The skeleton in the room started watching her with interest instead of pretending she didn’t exist, which made her neck hairs stand on end once again.

Frisk reminded herself that she was taking baby steps. This was the first living being she had ever encountered that wasn’t her own mother— of course she would be frightened. He would just take some getting used to.

“If you had a pulley system here the whole time, why do you need me?” Sans asked. She wasn’t sure if he was complaining or genuinely curious.

“I’m not allowed to leave,” Frisk explained. “I’ve lived here my whole life. So I need a guide to show me around. I... don’t know how to get to the Capital.”

She sighed, and felt like they were both thinking the same thing as she finished tightening the swing. There was nothing stopping the skeleton monster from simply... taking her somewhere else and leaving her for dead.

Frisk took a deep breath and decided she’d just have to trust him.

“Okay, we’re ready,” she almost whispered, but the monster must have heard her because he grabbed the swing, climbed up onto the windowsill, and jumped down.

Frisk gaped as he just FELL, with nothing to support him other then the hope that the swing would hold his weight when he came to the inevitable stop at the end.

The rope snapped taught, and the skeleton waited for it to straighten out before stepping off and onto the grass. He seemed unfazed by the extreme fall he had just taken.

“Coming, Goldie?” He called up, and Frisk bunched up her nose.

She pulled the rope back up, studying the swing carefully. Could she just... jump? 

Flowey seemed to sense what she was thinking and wrapped his vines more securely around the woman’s shoulder. Frisk reaches back and brushed his petals calmingly, knowing that he was likely more nervous about this then her (considering how silent he’d been).

“Do I even dare?” Frisk whispered, knowing full well she was doing something wrong. She knew that what she was doing was disobeying her mother, and she hated how much she didn’t care. Her whole body, mind, and soul seemed to completely disregard Toriel’s wishes.

But Frisk’s conscience was screaming in pain... and probably would be for the rest of this journey.

“Should I? No,” she said to Flowey, tightening her grip on the rope and placing her feet into the swing. “Here I go.”

And then she jumped.

The air was whooshing in her ears, her stomach was left far behind and her hair was a whirlwind as Frisk free fell all the way down the tower. Tears sprang to her eyes as the wind whipped into her face, her legs bunched up under her as she spun. 

She looked around in awe and wonder, eyes shining in the sun as she turned and watched the mountains surrounding her, and the forests beyond.

And with a snap, the rope reached its’ end and Frisk was hovering just above the grass.

She peered down at it, legs bunched up on the swing and not coming down. She watched how the light breeze ruffled the grass like hair. Maybe it was soft...

She slowly lowered her legs onto the ground. 

With gasp, Frisk threw herself into the floor, stretching her arms out and lacing them through the grass.

“Oh my god. Oh my GOD, Flowey— it’s so soft? It’s so warm it’s amazing!” Frisk sat up and raked her fingers through, smiling big. “Feel this! It’s like— everything is connected but it can also come apart!”

She stood all the way, not brushing the dirt off her overalls. “And... the wind... oh, I imagined it all wrong! It’s like it’s calling me!”

She breathed in and out deeply, only passingly aware of how the skeleton monster was watching her with an odd expression.

“I could dance. I could run!” Frisk jumped around, ran in circles, her legs getting confused and bouncy as she tumbled over the uneven ground. “I’m running, Flowey! I’m FREE!”

And she laughed, and she yelled, and she splashed in the little stream that curved through the grass like a snake.

 

She was weeping and laughing and screaming. 

 

She was free.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I absolutely did NOT plan on having this out so soon... but inspiration strikes me at midnight and I can’t help myself.
> 
> If you guys actually like my terrible writing and you want more... please please PLEASE subscribe to this story and comment! It’s really the only way I can tell that people actually want More and they aren’t just stopping by for a quick read.
> 
> Love you all, and have a good day!


	5. I’ve Got A Dream

 

He really was an idiot.

 

He had to tow this human girl around with him now. And for what? What was stopping him from just leaving her somewhere and running back to the tower?

 

Frisk turned around and looked at him over her shoulder, beaming. He noticed how her cheeks bunched up under her eyes, highlighting the twinkle.

 

Oh. Right. What a time to grow a sense of decency.

 

“Okay, then, Goldie,” Sans grumbled. “Where to?”

 

She blinked. “Uh, the Capital, duh.”

 

Sans resisted the urge to slap himself. “No, there’s... look,” he stopped walking, and so did she. “The Capital is at the very least a days’ journey from here. If you’re running very fast without any rest breaks.” He rubbed his nasal bridge. “Since I have you, we’ll have to stop for food and... probably sleep.”

 

Frisk opened and closed her mouth like a goldfish. He didn’t realize what she was upset about until she tentatively spoke.

 

“Do... do you not eat or sleep?”

 

“O-oh,” Sans exclaimed, embarrassed, because he hadn’t been harassed about this since traveling with Papyrus. “Um... skeletons... don’t have to eat as often as humans do.” He lied through his teeth, and felt a little bad about it. But the last thing he needed was someone bothering him about his less then healthy living habits.

 

Frisk shrugged, and seemed to take what he said as truth without further argument, walking again through the bushes.

 

What a strange girl.

 

She’d been so excited earlier, about grass. Literally just grass. She’d never seen it before.

 

Sans twitched uncomfortably as he realized that the cold floors of that tower were probably the only thing the human had felt for her entire life. He couldn’t imagine not knowing how dirt felt. It was just... well, dirt! Who on earth didn’t know what dirt was?

 

His new traveling companion, obviously.

 

She’d picked up a new stick sometime during their trek through the forest, and was mocking having a limp, giggling under her breath. How silly. How childish. Sans didn’t like it at all.

 

“Better not ‘stick’ to that walking style, champ,” the skeleton grinned, “or you’ll develop a ‘wooden’ walk.”

 

Frisk tilted her head to the side with a frown.

 

The flower poked out of her hair. “Was that a wood pun?” It hissed.

 

“OH,” Frisk realized, and then she laughed. She LAUGHED. “That’s so silly!”

 

Yeah, Sans wasn’t enjoying this at all.

 

There was a slight rustle in the bushes in front of them, and the human girl squealed before running behind him, jumping onto his back as if he could offer protection.

 

“Who goes there?!” Frisk shouted from her koala bear position on Sans’s back. He had half a mind to shove her off. “Ruffians? Thieves? I have a stick!”

 

“You’re... pretty frightened of thieves, huh?”

 

A froggit hopped out of the bush, blinking stupidly at Frisk.

 

“Oh,” Frisk murmured, and slowly slid off the skeleton’s back.

 

Sans sighed at her obvious embarrassment and choose to just ignore the whole thing, continuing forward past the bush as though it had never happened. Frisk hurriedly followed his example, rubbing her forearms.

 

“It’s getting kind of cold, isn’t it?” She said quietly.

 

“Is it?” Sans asked. “I wouldn’t know, the cold goes right through me.”

 

There was a displeased hiss from the flower and a soft giggle from the human.

 

Truth be told, Sans hadn’t really noticed. Skeletons weren’t particularly attune to temperature changes, and he had lived in the cold weather all his life.

 

“Welcome to Snowdin, Goldie,” Sans grinned, waving his hands like a jazz performer. Maybe he could just... leave her here and run once they got to town? He didn’t particularly care for this human girl. He didn’t particularly LIKE this human girl. There was no reason to keep entertaining her.

 

The skeleton sighed, pulling on his collar. “How does Grillby’s sound?”

 

“‘Grillby’s’?”

 

“A buddy of mine owns a bar and grill in town.” Sans shoved his hands into his pockets. “We could eat there.”

 

Frisk tapped her mouth for a moment, thinking hard. “Well, I do like food. Plus, a grill sounds warm!”

 

“Glad I didn’t have to grill you about it,” The skeleton smiled.

 

 

——————————————

 

 

Toriel hummed to herself as she strolled along, the summer breeze swirling pleasantly through her fur. She swung her basket from side to side, heading briskly for the Capital.

 

The goat woman paused when a rustling noise sounded in the bushes, and slowly raised an arm in anticipation as the crashing came closer.

 

A skeleton burst from the underbrush, swinging his cape wildly over his shoulder.

 

The woman gasped and quickly pulled her hood up over her horns, shadowing her face.

 

“HELLO, TRAVELER!” The monster greeted at an incredible volume. “WHAT BRINGS YOU INTO THE SNOWDIN WOODS?”

 

“I’m heading into town,” Toriel murmured, growing more worried by the moment. Why was a monster this close to the Ruins?

 

“OH! WELL FEAR NOT, TRAVELER! AS A MEMBER OF THE ROYAL GUARD, I CAN ASSURE YOU THAT THE ROAD THERE IS SAFE. SO MAYBE YOU CAN TRAVEL THAT WAY INSTEAD OF THROUGH THE WOODS.”

 

Toriel relaxed a little as the skeleton squinted at her. The Royal Guard reported directly to Asgore, and Toriel knew for a fact he only hired the most good-hearted monsters he could find. Also, those monsters understood that the woods beyond Snowdin were off-limits.

 

“Why are you out here?” Toriel inquired in a puzzled voice. The tall skeleton frowned.

 

He sighed heavily, taking on a theatrical pose. “I AM TRACKING A THIEF, AS IS MY JOB. UNFORTUNATELY, THIS TIME THE THEIF HAPPENS TO BE MY OWN LAZY BROTHER.” The tall guardsman slumped. “THAT MAKES IT VERY COMPLICATED.”

 

Toriel’s fear shot up immediately, and she froze in place, pinning the guard with her ruby eyes. “Where is the thief headed?”

 

“OH, SOMEWHERE THAT WAY,” a red gloved hand pointed over Toriel’s shoulder. “I’M WORRIED IF HE LEFT SNOWDIN TERRITORY. I’M NOT SUPPOSED TO CROSS OUT OF MONSTER KINGD— HEY! WAIT! WHERE ARE YOU GOING, LONELY TRAVELER?!”

 

“To check something! Thanks for your help!” Toriel yelled over her shoulder, rushing with her heart pounding in her chest.

 

She had to check on Frisk, now.

 

Traveling double the speed she had started, Toriel quickly made it back to the tower. Her first clue was the rope swing, hanging out of the tower and swinging freely. Frisk never left the swing out.

 

Toriel jumped onto it, yanking on the pulley rope and lifting herself up. Toriel grunted slightly with the effort.

 

“Frisk! Frisk, darling!” Toriel shouted, and grew increasingly worried when there was no answer.

 

When she made it up to the tower, she jumped in the window and threw her picnic basket to the side.

 

“Frisk!” The goat women screamed, and then she ran up the stairs, opening the door to Frisk’s room and searching through the covers. “FRISK?!”

 

But it was no use. The girl was gone.

 

 

———————————————

 

 

The bell dinged as Frisk pushed open the door to the monster bar. She breathed in heavily through her nose, happily accepting the warmth in comparison to the outside cold.

 

“Oh, it’s SO NICE in here,” she exclaimed, stretching and depositing Flowey on a table. “I can’t wait to...” she trailed off awkwardly as she realized the entire crowd of monsters was staring directly at her.

 

The skeleton monster hiding behind her back tensed when he saw the large collection of Royal Guard monsters in the bar. Perhaps this hadn’t been the best idea...

 

Two dogs stalked up to Frisk, sniffing her face hungrily. She tensed, wondering if she had come here to eat, or be eaten.

 

“This is... a weird puppy?” Said one of the dogs in a growly tone.

 

“It’s been rolling in the dirt,” the other dog agreed with a slightly more feminine voice.

 

“Hmm,” The pair hummed in unison, and then very suddenly pushed Frisk to the side and growled.

 

Frisk watched, trying to calm her nerves, as the two guards sniffed down her guide.

 

“Well, this is a ‘ruff’ situation, huh?” Sans asked lazily, eying the dog’s Guard badges.

 

“Smells like bones,” the female dog barked, and everyone in the building sat up.

 

“Sans the skeleton,” the male one growled. “Is this you?”

 

He pulled a flyer out of his pocket and held it up, displaying a very prominent wanted poster featuring Sans. Frisk slowly covered her mouth.

 

“Ah, I knew somebody was gonna see those,” Sans shook his head in disappointment, snatching the paper out of the dog monsters’ hands and crumpling it.

 

Flowey seemed to be only enjoying all of this, as if it had been set up for his own personal amusement.

 

“He’s wanted for over 10,000 G!” Someone in the bar shouted. In an instant, every monster was all over Sans, trying to grab him or handcuff him or even kill him.

 

Frisk cried out and tried to dive into the crowd, bravely dodging through the monsters and grabbing Sans’s ankle.

 

“Stop kidnapping my Guide!” The woman shouted, pulling on the skeletal appendage.

 

Sans wriggled out of the hard grasps, disappearing in the crowed only to reappear behind Frisk. Everyone paused and looked Frisk dangerously, noticing who she was hiding.

 

The girl held her arms above her head in fear.

 

“Wait! Wait, stop! Please! I just want to go see the stars, and I need him to get there! Haven’t any of you ever had a dream?!”

 

One of the dog monsters stood up, stalking over to her with a growl. He leaned directly over her face, breathing smoke from his dog treat directly into the girl’s eyes.

 

His shifty eyes narrowed on Frisk and Sans. They both trembled in fear.

 

“I had a dream once,” he growled, and then glared at the accordion player. Music filled the bar at once.

 

And then, to the travelers’s surprise, the Guard began to sing.

 

“I’m malicious, mean, and scary,”

 

Sans tensed up with confusion and Frisk blinked curiously.

 

“My sneer could curdle dairy, and violence wise my knives are not the cleanest!”

 

The two travelers watched warily as the tall dog stalked up to the piano, his smoking dog treat still hanging out of his mouth.

 

“But despite my evil look, and my temper, and my woof— I’ve always yearned to be a concert pianist!”

 

He slammed his paws into the piano, playing a jovial tune that wasn’t even that bad. Frisk smiled, glad she had managed to convince the monster of dreams. Her skeleton companion just rolled his eyes at the song.

 

“Can’t you see on the stage preforming Mettaton, ticklin’ the ivories till they gleaaam!”

 

Frisk began to clap, beaming.

 

“Yes I’d rather be called deadly for my killer showtune medley! Because way down deep inside I’ve got a dream!”

 

 

————————————————

 

 

Toriel panted as she made record time back into Snowdin, avoiding the path she usually took so as to not run into the skeleton guard again.

 

It wasn’t long before she entered the town, paying the “Welcome To Snowdin” sign little mind. She stopped outside Grillby’s to catch her breath, hearing loud... singing? The patrons of that bar hadn’t had a karaoke night in years. Toriel hoped to herself that they were having fun. The dog monsters of the Royal Guard were overworked (even if they were well payed).

 

But as she peered in the window, she saw something that made her jaw drop.

 

 

————————————————

 

 

To Sans’s displeasure, the other monsters in the bar began to join in Doggo’s crazy show, singing joyfully.

 

A strange-looking cat monster walked up to the piano with the dog guardsman, starting to sing as well.

 

“I’ve got scars and lumps and bruises, plus something here that oozes. And let’s not even mention my complexiooon!”

 

“But despite my bosses’ woes, and my ears, and my nose— I really wanna make a love connection!”

 

Dogamy and Dogeressa, the married dog monster couple, were dancing and laughing together, despite having just been threatening Sans. Lesser and Greater Dog were woofing along with pleasure, and of course Doggo was still at the piano, playing with vigor. The only creature besides Sans who was unhappy was probably Frisk’s weird flower, who was sulking on the table and eyeing the rats distrustfully.

 

Sans allowed himself to relax a little. Perhaps this impromptu bout of music would distract the members of the Royal Guard long enough for him and Frisk to grab a to-go meal. But as he turned to tell her so, he realized that the human was gone— was, in fact, dancing with the rest of the crowd, arm in arm with the monsters, giggling all the time.

 

He couldn’t bring himself to be mad, because she looked so content and happy. This was her first time out and about, Sans supposed. She might as well enjoy it.

 

The monsters continued to sing about their various dreams, and even dreams of people they knew. Sans found himself pulled into the fray, although he shut his mouth and rolled his eyes, avoiding the ridiculousness of song.

 

“Asgore’d like to quit and be a florist,”

 

Frisk swung past him, smiling and throwing her arms up into the air as monsters danced with her.

 

“The dummies are interior design,”

 

Sans caught himself watching with surprise. For someone with no social contact, she could dance.

 

“Grillby lets us dine, and Muffet’s cupcakes are sublime!”

 

Frisk spun around, twirled by an enthusiastic dog.

 

“Bratty knits!

 

Catty sows!

 

Mettaton puts on his show!”

 

Frisk huffed and puffed and smiled at Sans. He grimaced back, because the crowd was making him kind of uncomfortable.

 

“And Doctor Alphys collects ceramic unicorns...”

 

There was a squeal as the lizard monster sitting in the back by the bar attempted valiantly to hide her red face. Sans laughed appreciatively and then realized that the room had fallen silent.

 

Dogamy stalked up to Sans, grabbing him by the hood of his vest.

 

“What about you?” He barked. “What’s your dream?”

 

Sans pulled himself from Dogamy’s grasp, frantically waving his hands.

 

“Oh, no, no, no,” Sans spluttered. “Sorry boys... I don’t sing.”

 

In a single instant, every monster in the room pulled their weapon out and held it towards Sans. All of their faces were stone cold with a single demand.

 

Sing.

 

“Uh...” The skeleton swallowed as beads of sweat pricked his skull, “I have dreams like you, no really! Just much less... touchy-feely! They mainly happen somewhere warm and sunny,” Sans started to accompany his terrible attempt at song with a terrible attempt at dance. Frisk was watching him with a huge smile. So was her flower. Man, he’d known there was a reason he didn’t like her. “On an island that I own, tanned and rested and alone— surrounded by enormous piles of money!”

 

Frisk swooped in to save him, bursting out her own rhymes based off the ones Doggo had made up.

 

“I’ve got a dream, I’ve got a dream!”

 

The surrounding monsters ate up her performance, allowing Sans to sneak to the bar and snag a burger or two.

 

“I just wanna see the floating stars’s gleam! And with every passing hour, I’m so glad I left my tower! Like all you lovely folks I’ve got a dream!”

 

Sans snorted at ‘lovely folks’ but didn’t comment.

 

“See, our differences aren’t really that extreme! We’re one big teaaaamm!”

 

Sans clutched the burger bag at his side, fully prepared to grab the human girl and leave.

 

“Call us brutal—“

 

“Sick!”

 

“Sadistic!”

 

“And grotesquely optimistic,”

 

“Because way down deep inside we’ve got a dreeeaaam!”

 

“I’ve got a dream—“

 

“—I’ve got a dream—“

 

“—I’ve got a dream—“

 

“—I’ve got a dream—“

 

“—I’ve got a dream—“

 

Sans sighed and rubbed his temples at the sight of Frisk happily going along and even jumping into the song, the dogs barking.

 

“I’ve got a DREAM!”

 

She stood on tiptoe, shouting out loud.

 

“YES, WAY DOWN DEEP INSIDE I’VE GOT A DREAAAM!”

 

 

There were cheers and clapping and beers being opened as the monsters, completely placated, returned to their business with joviality.

 

Frisk came up to him, skipping and humming. Flowey had been returned to her shoulder. He seemed to have enjoyed the song about as much as Sans.

 

“I can’t believe I did that!” She beamed at Sans. Who couldn’t quite believe it either. “Apparently all it took was a little heart and a little interest! Everybody’s got hopes and dreams, they just need a listening ear and a bit of determination to see them through.”

 

“If you say so,” The skeleton muttered, rolling his eyes. “Now if you’re quite finished, I’d really like to get—“

 

The door to the establishment slammed open, smashing into the opposite wall. Everyone fell silent once again as someone suited in full armor stomped in.

 

Sans pulled himself and the human girl behind the counter they were standing next to in an instant, his soul pounding.

 

Frisk peeked her head above the wood, trying to catch a glimpse of the newcomers.

 

“Have any of you seen Sans the skeleton?” Barked a woman. Frisk flinched at the Monster’s harsh tone.

 

More members of the Royal Guard filed in after her. Frisk raised her eyebrows at a tall and fidgety skeleton monster, a bunny knight, a dragon knight, and a whimsalot.

 

There were also two lions who appeared to be chained up.

 

Sans sank even closer to the floor.

 

“What’s he look like?” Doggo asked gruffly, his dog treat hanging lazily out the side of his mouth.

 

The Captain of the Royal Guard pulled a crumpled up paper out of her pocket, flattened it, and showed it to the dogs.

 

“Hmm,” said Dogamy, and he and Dogeressa shared a look. Sans sunk as far into the hardwood as was physically possible.

 

“We haven’t seen anyone like that around here,” Doggo finally spoke up. All the dogs nodded vigorously.

 

“Never in our lives,” Greater Dog added, his tongue lolling out.

 

Undyne sighed and shoved her paper back into her pocket.

 

Sans startled as someone tapped him on the shoulder.

 

“Pssst,” whispered a small yellow lizard from beside him. She was very small, and wearing a nondescript brown patchwork robe with a white apron over it. Easy to miss. The only part of her outfit that stuck out was the goggles hanging around her neck.

 

“Pssst,” the monster repeated, tugging on Sans’s sleeve. He slowly got on all fours, and Frisk followed his example.

 

The lizard monster beckoned him over to the center of the bar, where Grillby leaned against the tile counter.

 

The flaming fire elemental glanced at Frisk and Sans only for a moment before kicking open a trapdoor under his counter.

 

“Th-there’s a secret t-tunnel in there that leads to Water- Waterfall,” the yellow lizard whispered, pointing. “We’ll keep Un-Undyne distracted.”

 

“Thanks!” Frisk whispered back, giving the monster a hug. The lizard blushed deeply.

 

Grillby nodded at Sans, who saluted in return.

 

And in this way, Frisk and Sans were able to sneak into the tunnels without much difficulty.

 

They were only crawling for a while before the tunnel expanded and they started walking again.

 

“This is so cool!” Frisk exclaimed gleefully.

 

“Shut UP, we’ll be heard,” the flower on her shoulder snapped.

 

They walked in silence for a while before Sans had to break the awkwardness.

 

“So,” he said, handing one of the burgers out of his bag to Frisk. “I know I’m not supposed to ask about the eyes,”

 

“Nope!”

 

“Or the mom.”

 

“No.”

 

“Frankly I’m too scared to ask about the dandelion,”

 

“I’m a GOLDENFLOWER,” Flowey hissed, offended. Sans grinned.

 

Frisk bit into her burger and then made the loudest sound of delight Sans had ever heard.

 

“This is the best thing I’ve ever tasted,” she mumbled with her mouth full. The skeleton chuckled.

 

“I was wondering... what’s the whole story, here? ‘Sans’ the eyes, of course.”

 

A furrow appeared between Frisk’s eyebrows, even though Sans could hardly see it in the darkness of the tunnels.

 

“Well, long story short, my mom locked me up high in a tower in order to protect me. And forbade me from leaving... ever.”

 

Sans raised his eyebrows. “I didn’t take you for the running away type, Goldie.”

 

“I didn’t run away!” Frisk defended quickly. Flowey nodded his agreement. “I’m going to be back home before she even notices I’m gone.”

 

Sans nodded slowly, being careful to avoid the little rivers of water in the floor.

 

“What about you?” Frisk asked after a while. “What’s your ‘whole story’?”

 

“WHOAH there, Goldie. I do not do backstories.” 

 

Frisk frowned, and then shrugged, finishing off her burger.

 

They walked in peaceful silence, heading for waterfall.

 

—————————————

 

Undyne growled, pinching the bridge on her face where her nose might of been.

 

“Papyrus...?” She asked weakly.

 

The skeleton marched forward, crossing his arms at the crowd.

 

“THIS IS SANS’S FAVORITE ESTABLISHMENT IN SNOWDIN,” Papyrus started coolly. “HE IS TOO LAZY TO GO ANYWHERE ELSE FOR FOOD. AND HE IS ALSO TOO LAZY TO LOOK FOR A PROPER HIDING SPOT.”

 

Papyrus pointed at the bar where Grillby was slowly cleaning a glass. Undyne sighed and walked over, looking inside with Papyrus.

 

“There’s no one under the bar,” Undyne pointed out.

 

Papyrus rolled his eyes and kicked a red boot into the wood counter. A trapdoor fell open easily, revealing a tunnel underneath. Undyne gasped.

 

“YOU SEE— HE USED A SECRET PASSAGE. LAZY!”

 

 

—————————————

 

 

Frisk and Sans were chatting amiably when Flowey suddenly sat up.

 

“Shut up!” He snapped, his stem quavering.

 

Frisk frowned. “Now, really, Flowey, that was unnecessa—“

 

“Shut up and listen!” Flowey growled. The two travelers halted and obediently fell silent, slowly realizing there was a pounding sound growing closer and closer.

 

“What’s that?” Frisk whimpered.

 

“Does it matter?!” Flowey squealed. “RUN!”

 

They didn’t need to be told twice. Sans pulled ahead, realizing that the people after them were probably the Royal Guard.

 

When they finally burst out, they were in waterfall. The sun was setting, and the muddy lake-based town was peaceful.

 

At least for now.

 

Sans dragged his human companion along one of the wooden walkways built over the endless lakes. There was no time to admire the scenery.

 

Frisk seemed mournful about that, and kept watching the glowing water when she was supposed to be running. Flowey clipped at her, and she stopped, setting him on the bridge.

 

“I’ll meet you up ahead, okay?” Frisk yelled as she went on without him. Flowey nodded and disappeared into the bridge.

 

Sans just shook his head and kept going, head pounding with adrenaline in time to his feet on the wood.

 

The travelers skidded to a stop on the wood as two lions pounced out from behind a rock prepuce.

 

“Who are they?” Frisk asked, panting.

 

“Uh...”

 

Sans grabbed the human girl and spun around, running in the opposite direction, but quickly stopped as the entirety of the Monster Royal Guard rumbled onto the bridge in front of him.

 

He was cornered.

 

“Who’re they?!”

 

“Well...”

 

And then, shoving out between all of them, Papyrus came forward, unsheathing his sword.

 

“SANS!!”He yelled fiercely.

 

“Who’s THAT?!”

 

“Look, Goldie, it’s all very complicated right now and—“

 

Frisk turned and ran towards the lions. Sans wasn’t sure what made her choose that death, but then he saw her grab the side of the bridge and start untying the rope side rails.

 

“What are you—“ Sans started, but didn’t get to finish as Frisk tossed her stick at him.

 

The Royal Guard rushed forward.

 

Sans took a deep breath and decided he might as well die bravely.

 

He smacked the first guard that ran at him (a bunny knight) across the face with his stick. That only seemed to make the guard angry, so Sans changed tactics and hit him in the side of the helmet with the stick, effectively knocking him out.

 

He repeated this with everyone who ran up to him, either knocking them out or off the bridge. His sense of elation grew with each strike.

 

“Man, sticks are way cooler then I thought!” The skeleton laughed, and then choked when Papyrus came up.

 

The two skeletons immediately began an odd dance, skipping around each other and fencing. Memories of times when they would play-fight to practice swooped through Sans’s mind as he focused on surviving.

 

And then he remembered that there was always one surefire way to mess Paps up.

 

“I asked the Guardsmen if he knew what side he was choosing for a fencing match,” Sans suddenly shouted cheerfully. The remaining fighters on the bridge heard him over the din and shot him confused glances. “He said; ‘Sword of. I’m still on the Fence about the whole thing’.”

 

Papyrus screamed, and knocked Sans’ stick right out of his hand and over the bridge. It fell into the water with a resounding splash.

 

Sans froze, Papyrus’s sword held at his throat.

 

“Okay, bro, maybe we can talk this out—“

 

“Nnggaaaaahhh! Stop right there!”

 

Everyone on the bridge froze, including Frisk, who was holding a lengthy bit of rope away from the dogs trying to attack her.

 

Undyne stomped onto the bridge, holding one of her personal forged spears.

 

“Sans the Skeleton,” she hissed, “I knew this day would come.” And as she lifted up her spear, two things seemed to happen at once.

 

First, Papyrus shrieked, causing Undyne to falter. Secondly, a piece of rope had suddenly been thrown into Sans’ hands, which he gripped tightly with a grin, and jumped off the bridge.

 

Frisk had been busy, tying rope swings much like her own pulley system to the bottom of the bridge. Holding on tightly, Sans managed to Tarzan his way to a rock island underneath the bridge he hadn’t even seen. Frisk was already standing there.

 

“That was cool,” Sans whispered as he landed, releasing the rope and brushing off his hands. “Now—“

 

“NGGAAAAAAAAAHH! No human gets away from me!”

 

There was a crashing noise as someone smashed THROUGH the bridge and landed on the rock underneath, glaring at Sans with her single eye.

 

“Wait! Stop!” Frisk yelled, running in front of him. Undyne growled, lifting up her spear, when she suddenly looked at Frisk and froze.

 

Frisk watched with confusion, wide-eyed, as the sun reflected off her face.

 

“ _Diablo_!” Undyne choked out a strangled hiss.

 

Sans realized what was happening and grabbed Frisk to drag her backwards.

 

“Undyne, it’s okay!” He yelled. “She’s okay, really!”

 

But Undyne was already screaming and throwing her spear.

 

The skeleton grabbed Frisk and they hightailed it along the rock prepuce, panting and gasping, hearts pounding.

 

Sans shoved them both into the first cave against the rock they could find, breathing heavily.

 

He really didn’t know how his life had come to this.

 

 

—————————————————

 

 

Frisk panted and collapsed in the cave as Sans kept going through the rocky tunnel.

 

She realized he was trying to get out through the opposite end, which would honestly be really smart, but she was feeling extremely drained. She wasn’t used to action like this.

 

Suddenly, she heard the skeleton yell, just as a loud crashing sound sounded.

 

Sans stumbled back.

 

“The other side... collapsed,” he explained. “We have to go out.”

 

Frisk did NOT want to go out and face that fiercely redheaded fish woman again.

 

But as Sans helped her up and they walked over, she realized she wouldn’t have to.

 

That entrance had collapsed as well.

 

“Auugh!” Sans growled in anger, slamming into the rock with his bone hands. “Of course! Undyne probably smashed the thing herself, hoping to trap us.”

 

“It worked,” Frisk grumbled, sifting back on the cold floor. The cold, wet floor. Frisk started and glared a little at the mysterious puddle, offended it was soaking her overalls.

 

“Well, that’s fine. We’re trapped but we can move the rocks with time,” Sans was rubbing his hands together. “Undyne will get impatient and leave once she sees that we’re stuck. But there’s no time limit, we can dig out way out.”

 

Frisk watched a little curiously as the water started to climb to her knees instead of her bottom. Maybe they’d collapsed near one of the waterfalls in the area?

 

“Hey, Sans? The water’s rising.”

 

“What?!”

 

The skeleton monster scrambled down from where he was climbing the rubble, splashing his hands in the water as if it confirm it was there.

 

“This is... not good,” he said. “Oh stars. Okay, I’m going to move this rock, give me a moment.”

 

He waded through the quickly-rising water over to the other side, pushing on the rocks. Frisk could hardly see him in the limited light.

 

Sans felt along the walls with fervor, becoming more panicked the longer it took.

 

“There’s a breaking point somewhere,” He spluttered desperately, “If I could just see it—“ he suddenly dived underneath the water, feeling and pushing on the rocks below.

 

Frisk pulled herself through the water (now coming up to her waist) and sloshed up to him just as the monster resurfaced with a gasp.

 

“It’s too dark down there,” he coughed, and Frisk dived down to search the wall. She pushed her fingers onto the rock, searching for a gap.

 

Skeletal hands gripped her arms and pulled her back up.

 

“There’s nothing down there. It’s too dark,” Sans explained mournfully. He flinched when Frisk let out a sob. “Hey, it’ll be oka—“

 

“I’m so sorry!” Frisk cried out, covering her face in her hands. The monster beside her watched with a somber expression. “This is all my fault. My mom was right all along, and now you’re going to die because of it.”

 

She started crying harder, the water up to her chest. “I’m so sorry, Sans. You’ll never get to live out your dreams.”

 

If she had just stayed home, if she had let the skeleton have his satchel, if she didn’t complain about the cold, if, if, if.

 

This was all her fault...

 

“I lied,” He whispered, soft against the rushing of water.

 

“What?” Frisk whimpered, looking up. She noticed how Sans’s eyes looked like tiny stars... lights set in the depths of his skull.

 

“I... lied about my dream. I don’t really want to live somewhere far away with a lot of money.” He rubbed his forearms, the bones gleaming white in the dark cave.

 

“Well... what is your dream, then?” Frisk asked, scrunching up her nose. “And why do you steal?”

 

Sans sighed and sunk into the water, which was nearing his neck.

 

“That skeleton guard who fought us on the bridge? That was my brother. He joined the Royal Guard a few years ago, moved to the Capital with the money.” Sans rubbed the back of his neck, and Frisk remembered he didn’t like telling people about himself.

 

“Without my bro to help pay the rent, I was sort of... out of luck. I still wrote letters, told him I was doing well.” The skeleton blew bubbles in the water gently. “When we were kids in the orphanage, the Queen read us this book about a robber who stole from the rich to give to the poor. Papyrus loved that hero, so I thought I could do the same.” Sans shrugged. “Except the poor person I was stealing for was me. It... yeah, it was just me.”

 

Frisk peered at him through her tears. His shoulders were slumped and he looked like anything but the cocky, overconfident thief she had met.

 

“Well,” she mumbled softly, “if we’re sharing secrets, then I guess I could tell you... I have Determination magic that can change time.”

 

“You what?” Sans repeated, looking at her blankly.

 

“I have... Determination magic... that can CHANGE TIME!” Frisk realized, growing more confident. “I just have to activate it!”

 

The water was rising, sloshing around their mouths, and they both spluttered and coughed, swimming up to the roof and the remaining air.

 

“Uh, well, how do you activate it?” Sans asked, going with the flow.

 

“I don’t know!” Frisk coughed, treading water as best she could. “I read that I just have to feel really and fully Determined—“

 

“Well, DO THAT!” Sans exclaimed, his nose hitting the rock above.

 

“Uhm, Starlight gleam and glow, let your power shine—“

 

At that moment, the dam of rocks burst forward, and the two travelers were washed out of the cave and into the river behind it.

 

Frisk tried to swim, and breathe, and eventually came up on the bank of the river, gasping.

 

She grabbed the grass to hold herself in place (ah, the convenience of grass) and laughed a little.

 

“We did it! We’re alive!” She exclaimed, crawling up and out of the water. Her sweater was soaked but she was smiling the whole time, spinning around.

 

A skeleton surfaced a little ways behind her, coughing and choking. He tilted his head forward, pouring the water out of his eye sockets.

 

“She’s magical?” He mumbled to himself, getting out of the river. “She can do magic. Nobody told me!”

 

Sans glared at the flower on the riverbed, not even bothering to ask how he’d found them. “Did you know about this?!”

 

“Everyone knew about it, smiley trashbag. Get with the program,” Flowey said on a biting tone.

 

“So the golden eyes thing isn’t a legend...” Sams whispered.

 

“Nope!” The plant chirruped, popping the ‘p’.

 

Sans stood up and followed Frisk over to where she was carefully drying out her hair.

 

Flowey looked up at him, noting the look on the skeletons’ face.

 

“Wow, what HAS your life come to?” He tutted unpleasantly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I bet you thought I was dead! (I did too)
> 
> So the bad news is, I’m currently moving houses. That means updates will be spotty for a while :/
> 
> The good news is, I cranked out this chapter for you that DOUBLES the fic length. You’re welcome.
> 
> This is the song I’ve had planned for the longest, so it was easy to write.
> 
>  
> 
> Fun Facts:
> 
> *Undyne yells “Demon!” In Spanish. I don’t know why, but I’ve always liked the idea of a Spanish Undyne.
> 
> *Alphys’s outfit looks like Varian from Tangled the Series.
> 
> *Flowey, by nature, likes to mess with people to see what happens. Therefore, he’s now a Frans shipper... in a way.
> 
> *Papyrus is the best and easiest character to write. Please appreciate him forever.


	6. ‘Frisk’ Knows Best

Frisk nervously watched the skeleton pace around her spot on the log. Her clothes seemed to be drying off, thank goodnes— but considering the sun was completely set by now they’d probably have to build a fire.

Flowey rolled his eyes at Frisk’s feet.

“I just... I don’t understand!” Sans was saying. He’d probably worn a groove into the ground at this point. “The legends are real about time magic and golden eyes... but then why do you need me? And how did you save us? And— why do we need to— oh OW.”

“You okay?” Frisk called. She felt silly and a little useless, but there was no shame in checking.

“Yeah,” her partner muttered, coming over to sit by her. “I just injured myself in the explosion of large boulders, that’s all.”

“Well isn’t that a surprise,” Flowey snickered. 

Frisk sighed and held out her hand. Sans stared at it for a few seconds, confusion evident on his skull, before Frisk decided to make this easier and just reached forward to grab his arm.

“Ah,” he hissed under his breath. “Yeah, that’s... where it hurts.”

Frisk studied the bone under her fingers with interest. This was the first time she’d gotten a real look at them up close.

Sure enough, there was a small hairline fracture along his ulna. Frisk brushed against it gently and the skeleton hissed again.

“Okay,” Frisk said quietly, “I’ll try to fix it, but you have to promise to not freak out.”

“Uh, sure. Deal, Goldie,” Sans agreed, grimacing.

“Aw, nooo, She’s gonna SING,” Flowey complained loudly.

Frisk held the unnaturally thick bones in her hands and slowly started to sing.

“Starlight gleam and glow...”

She placed her fingers over the break.

“Let your power shine... make the clock reverse, bring back what once was mine...”

The skeleton slowly became bathed in red light as Frisk’s eyes changed color.

“Heal What has been hurt... change the fates’ design... save what has been lost...”

Sans watched with wide eye sockets as the flower at her feet smugly smiled, leaning towards his arm.

“Bring back what once was mine... what once was mine.”

As the red slowly faded, the skeleton pulled back his arm and checked it. No scratches, no breaks... none of the dents and nicks he had earned from his life as a thief. 

A high-pitched noise started to reverberate from his teeth. Frisk grabbed his shoulders tightly.

“Don’t freak out!” Frisk yelped. “You promised you wouldn’t freak out.”

“You PROMISED!” Flowey shrieked from his place curled up by Frisk’s feet.

“Yeah, I did, Uh I’m not freaking out, I’m just VERY interested in the properties of your magic and— how long have you been able to do that exactly? And what’s with the singing?”

“About an hour,” the human girl grinned. “And, Uh... the song is a lullaby my mom taught me. It makes me feel confident. So it helps.”

“Ah,” Sans leaned back on the tree log and rubbed his ulna discretely. “Good to know.”

“As for the rock thing,” Frisk scrunched up her nose. “Honestly, I’m not sure how I did that. The books I read... well, they always explained that the magic could turn back time.”

“That’s not what I heard,” Sans’s skull tilted to the side. “People with Golden Eyes could simply do... anything. Anything at all.”

“But that’s not how it works,” Frisk shook her head. She was tempted to tell him that is was DETERMINATION magic, but if he’d forgotten that part, she did not want to remind him.

Luckily, she’d read up on her own magic. Toriel always made sure she had plenty of books, sometimes without checking them first. And one of those books had ending up being a study into the only magic known to humans.  
Apparently this particular magic was ‘bred into Family lines’ (whatever that meant).

“I think... maybe people who could change time COULD do anything, in a way. They’d just try and try and try until they got something right. Does that make sense?”

Sans leaned a little to the side and nodded, his face focused.

Frisk tapped the wood she was sitting on. “And anyway, I probably just sent us back in time to before the cave collapsed. Or maybe I sent the ROCKS back in time to before they were there! I don’t really know. It could’ve been anything.”

“You’re right about that,” Flowey muttered, seeming uncharacteristically somber.

Sans hummed quietly in agreement. “Didja know your eyes change color?”

Frisk blinked. “What?”

“Your eyes turn red. When, you’re, Uh, doin’ your spell thingy.” Perhaps it was only a trick of the shadows, but Frisk thought for a second that Sans’s cheekbones had gone a little blue.

“I guess I wouldn’t. Not like we have a mirror,” Frisk laughed and Sans did with her, seemingly slipping back into the comfort of being non-serious.

Sans stood up, cracking his back. “I probably should start a fire, huh?”

“Yeah,” Frisk smiled, watching him wander into the woods slowly, giving her breathing distance. She appreciated that. Sans really... well, he understood. He seemed to get that she didn’t like being quiet or lonely, but he also knew when to give her time to think.

 

That was... pretty awesome.

 

“Well, I thought he’d never leave!” A familiar voice called out, and Frisk jumped several centimeters. Flowey immediately ducked under the grass.

Toriel strutted our from the bushes, swinging her picnic basket to and fro with a smile.

“M— Mother!” Frisk exclaimed, standing up.

“Yes, it’s me, your mother, who you left,” Toriel agreed, brushing off her dress.

“Mom, I—“ Frisk coughed, “I’m really sorry. But I promise it was all for a good reason! And, I’ve been on the most wonderful adventures, with a traveling partner too—“

“Yes, the wanted thief, I’m so proud,” Toriel snapped. “We’re going home, Frisk. Now.”

“But I... I don’t want to leave,” Frisk stomped her foot on the grass, frowning.

“Please, darling, you’re acting like a child,” Toriel sighed. “It’s terrible out here. We need to get you back where it’s safe—“

“NO!” The human girl yelled. “It’s not as bad out here as you think! The thief even likes me!”

“No? Oh,” Toriel’s ruby eyes burned dangerously and she became unnaturally still. “I see how it is.”

Frisk lost a little of her gusto, shrinking down.

“FRISK knows best, Frisk is so mature now, such a clever grown up miss,” Toriel hummed, rapping the human on the nose. 

“Frisk knows best... fine, if you’re so SURE now, go ahead and give him THIS!” 

With a snarl, Toriel pulled something from her picnic basket— a Tiara, set with rubies and bloodstones, made of the finest gold.

Frisk gasped. “Sans’s satchel—“

“This is why he’s helping you!” Toriel barked, handing the crown to her daughter. “He’s using you, darling, can’t you tell?”

“But I’m the one who—“

“And when he finds out about you’re magic, he’ll sell you to someone too!” Toriel’s voice grows quieter and more wobbly as she speaks. “What if you’re kidnapped? What if he KILLS you? What if you end up—“

“Mom!” Frisk grabbed Toriel’s wrists and pulled the goat woman down to her. Toriel blinked rapidly as tears slid down her fur.

“I’ll be okay. I promise. I’ve proved myself!”

“How?” Toriel murmured, tears falling continuously.

“There was a whole bar of monsters, and I talked ‘em all down!” Frisk explained, grinning sheepishly. “If I squint, no one can tell the color of my eyes anyway.” 

She proudly demonstrated, squeezing her golden eyes smaller.

Toriel watched blearily. “Does that really... work?”

Frisk nodded. “Look, Mom, I can handle myself. Really! For real!”

Toriel hugged the child to her chest, squeezing hard.

“If... if that skeleton gives you any trouble...” she mumbled.

“He won’t,” Frisk assured. “Look, I’ll even give him the tiara back. Then he’ll leave me alone for good!”

Toriel sighed, low and long. “Okay. I suppose... you’ve proved you’re strong enough to survive.” The goat woman broke the hug and stood up.

Frisk waved with a soft smile. “I’ll see you later.”

Toriel smiled back, the last of her tears running as she picked up her picnic basket.

“And I, you.”

And the goat woman disappeared into the woods, gone with a puff of white smoke.

Frisk sighed and studied the crown in her hands. A flower surfaced by her feet, watching her warily.

“Can I see?” Flowey asked, and Frisk tilted the object down towards him.

They studied it in silence for a moment... Frisk with curiosity and wonder, and Flowey with...

“You should put it on your head,” the flower supplies unexpectedly.

“Pfft, what?” Frisk laughed. “Why?”

“Just try it,” Flowey weaseled, watching her intently. Frisk sighed and compliantly lifted the tiara up onto her head.

There was a swing and Frisk tripped and fell on the grass with a yelp. She scooped up the crown carefully, frowning.

“Think I got a head rush,” she mumbled. “...we should probably put this thing away.”

——————————————————

Leo growled, shoving Ben to the side as they clomped unsteadily through the woods. They were nearing the Capital, now— and the trees were closing in the closer they got to the border. That would do them good, no one would see them here. Even if the patrol came by every day, the underbrush was thick enough to offer good hiding.

It’d been surprisingly easy to escape from the Monster Royal Guard. They’d all ran off in quite a hurry to catch that idiot skeleton thief. Seemingly completely forgetting about the two other wanted thieves they already had in possession.

“I can’t believe we lost the crown,” Ben snapped his teeth. Leo nodded somberly. That crown would have been the Heist to End All Heists: enough money for SEVERAL people to retire completely and live a happy life.

But of course, their ‘partner’ in crime had to go and steal all the glory for himself. Not that the lions hadn’t been planning to do the exact same thing, but it stung when the person you were conning turned around and conned you.

“I hate Sans the skeleton,” Leo growled angrily, whipping his tail to the side and smashing the side of his fist into a nearby tree. “And that stupid golden-eyed girl he has.”

The two lions sat fuming for a good minute, angrily imagining all the best ways to enact revenge on the disgusting bag of bones.

They didn’t even notice the figures in the shadows until an arrow hit the tree that Leo’s fist was resting on.

Both of the monsters jumped back with a snarl of alarm, finally realizing that they were surrounded.

One hooded figure came forward, their black cloak almost melting out of the shadows. The only thing distinguishable under their low hood was a pale face.

“Sans... the skeleton?” Asked a voice from the fabric. Leo and Ben exchanged glances and then nodded.

“Hmm,” the figure responded, then snapped their fingers. Arrows became embedded in every tree around the lions, who both froze in fear. The arches surrounding them stood poised with their bows pointed.

The hooded figure was completely still, contemplating. 

“Listen, creatures. I have a deal to make with you. But you have to listen closely, and you have to obey me.” 

Something about the voice changed then. Almost as if the figure talking was smiling now. 

“If you cooperate, we’ll reward you handsomely. Not only with gold, but with revenge on... Sans the skeleton.” 

The lions watched with baited breath, because even they could understand the other end of this deal.

If they refused, they’d be killed, right here and now.

Well, the decision wasn’t that hard to make, was it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hmmm... gotta admit, I’m REALLY excited to hear what theories you guys have about this.......... >:)
> 
> Unfortunately, I feel like I’m really doing Flowey dirty in my story. He’s such a great character and I feel like I don’t write him that well :/
> 
> Hope you enjoy this because the plot is going to pick up considerably from here! Although the next chapter is going to be EXTREMELY fluffy. Be warned if you have a dust allergy.
> 
> Also, I’m moving houses currently so I’m sorry about slow updates. I can’t really fix that so I hope you understand ^3^


	7. Kingdom Dance

“WAKE UP!”

 

Frisk jumped up with a start, and then was completely shocked to see, standing before her, a member of the Royal Guard.

 

It was the tall skeleton one. His gold and white armor glittered dangerously in the morning sun, and his bone eyebrows were furrowed in intense concentration as he leveled a sword at Frisk’s throat.

 

She swallowed nervously, meeting his gaze.

 

“HERE IS MY PROBLEM,” the guard boomed at an incredible volume, “SANS IS SUPPOSED TO BE ARRESTED. BUT HE IS MY BROTHER. YOU, ON THE OTHER HAND—“ the sword pressed closer to Frisk’s skin— “ARE A HUMAN. AND SUSPICIOUS HUMANS CANNOT BE IN THE MONSTER KINGDOM, ESPECIALLY SO CLOSE TO THE CAPITAL.”

 

Sans. Where was he? Frisk tried to look over the tall guards’ shoulder, but he gently pushed her down.

 

“SANS IS ASLEEP,” he explained matter-of-factly.

 

“While you’re yelling? How?” Frisk asked, finally managing to spot a snoring thief beyond the tall skeleton’s cape.

 

“HE’S USED TO IT.”

 

Frisk watched the skeleton carefully, trying not to get stabbed. “You’re... Papyrus, right?”

 

“THE ONE AND ONLY!”

 

“...And Sans is your brother?”

 

“SOMEHOW.”

 

Frisk chewed on her lip. “Papyrus, would you be willing to hear me out?”

 

“I AM ALWAYS WILLING!” Papyrus exclaimed happily, pulling his weapon away. His eyes narrowed suspiciously. “HOWEVER, CAPTAIN UNDYNE SAYS NOT TO TRUST HUMANS.”

 

“I’m sure she’s right about that,” Frisk agreed. “But, Uh, I’m not entirely human!”

 

Papyrus blinked at her in confusion, straightening up and letting his sword fall to the side.

 

“You see, my mom is a goat monster! I’ve lived back there in the Ruins my whole life!” Frisk pointed back in Snowdin’s direction, watching as Papyrus’s eyes followed. “So I don’t count.”

 

The skeleton guard rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “I SEE.”

 

“Plus, Uh, I’m just heading to the Capital to see the Star!” Frisk explained, growing confident as Papyrus sheathed his sword. “It’s my birthday present. I’ll be leaving right after.”

 

“HUH,” Papyrus contemplated, watching Frisk. “YOU PROMISE TO RETURN HOME AS SOON AS YOUR BIRTHDAY IS OVER?”

 

“One hundred percent!”

 

“ALRIGHT THEN!” Papyrus clapped his gloves together, completely convinced. Frisk sighed in relief. “WE SHOULD PROBABLY WAKE SANS.”

 

“Oh, yeah,” Frisk remembered. She leaned to look past Papyrus and the heap of bones on the ground, softly snoring. She laughed a little. “Sans! Wake UP!”

 

The thief shot up like a gun, jumping to his feet. He spotted Papyrus and sweat broke out on his skull as he darted to stand in front of Frisk.

 

“I can explain, bro, I promise—“

 

“NO NEED, SANS! THE HUMAN HERE HAS ALREADY MADE IT QUITE CLEAR. YOU’RE TRAVELING TO THE CAPITAL ONLY FOR HER BIRTHDAY, AND THEN WILL BE RIGHT BACK.”

 

“Oh. Uh, yeah.” Sans stuttered.

 

“SO OF COURSE, I WILL ACCOMPANY YOU.”

 

“You what?” Both of the traveling partners asked at once. Flowey had even woken up and was confused at this turn of events, it seemed.

 

“IT’S ONLY FITTING THAT A LADY BE ESCORTED BY A RESPECTABLE MEMBER OF SOCIETY,” Papyrus pointed out, and Sans wilted a little.

 

“Of... course,” Frisk sighed. “Well, Papyrus, I’m sure you know the way to the Capital?”

 

“ABSOLUTELY!”

 

“Then let’s go.”

 

——————————

 

Hotland was... hot. True to it’s namesake, Frisk was sweating throughout most of the journey.

 

Papyrus, throughout most of the walking, seemed content to lead the way. He also loudly told tales of his many adventures as part of the Royal Guard, and Frisk soon realized something very important.

 

Papyrus was a huge dork.

 

All of his stories revolved around the Greatness of him and everyone he knew. It seemed that he had only joined the Royal Guard to make friends and be Great (and he was arguably very great already). He looked up to Captain Undyne very much, and often trained with her and King Asgore.

 

Frisk thought this was pretty adorable.

 

Flowey seemed to find Papyrus’s optimist energy very annoying, and often made cynical comments in the tall Guard’s direction.

 

“But nobody would actually save the dog from the lava,” Flowey spat from Frisk’s shoulder. Sans rolled his eyes.

 

“OF COURSE THEY WOULD! WHO WOULDN’T HELP A CREATURE IN NEED?”

 

“But you literally just got done explaining how annoying that dog is.”

 

“INDEED, IT IS VERY IRKSOME.”

 

“Then WHY SAVE IT?!” Flowey screeched.

Then Sans snapped that maybe some people were just better then Flowey. Most of their conversations went something like that.

 

Frisk and Sans sighed and exchanged glances with each other. This was going to be a long day.

 

Surprisingly, Papyrus was able to get them to the gates rather fast. Before they knew it, they had made it past Hotland completely and were at the entrance to the Capital.

 

Papyrus showed his badge and Sans hid behind Frisk, and then they were all good to go.

 

“I can’t believe this,” Frisk mumbled, staring up at the huge palaces. The entire place was a dull and sad gray, but many, many monsters had painted, decorated, and customized it until the Capital was a huge bustle of color and light.

 

Frisk was grinning like a huge idiot as she skipped onto the bridge. Behind her, Papyrus gently patted Flowey into a flowerpot, and tied it to his breastplate.

 

“I’m not a baby,” Flowey grumbled from his new carrying pack.

 

“Could’ve fooled me,” Sans grinned snarkily.

 

“Of course I could fool you, you empty-headed nitwit!”

 

“What, you sayin’ I’m a numbskull?”

 

“No, I’m saying I’M NOT A BABY!” The plant screeched.

 

“Guys!” Frisk said, turning around. “It’s my birthday. No fighting, or I’ll sic Papyrus on you.”

 

Papyrus saluted, watching Sans and Flowey carefully with narrow eyes.

 

Frisk hummed to herself, quietly mouthing “wow” as she watched all the different kinds of monsters walk around, sell things, buy things, and mingle.

 

“Hey, Wait,” Sans called, stumbling up to her and placing a hand on her shoulder. “We gotta make sure nobody sees you.”

 

Frisk nodded, remembering her squint eyes trick. But then she noticed something even better— monster children handing out flower crowns!

 

She gasped in delight and ran up to them. The oldest kid turned to look at her with a grin. He was a dinosaur monster without arms.

 

“Yo, What kinda crown do you want?”

 

“Something gold, please!” Frisk giggled. Anything that would distract from her eyes would be good.

 

“Gotcha!” The Dino monster smiled, and hooked a gold and red crown with his toe, flicking it up into Frisk’s hands. She placed it on her head carefully, relishing the way it took attention away from her eyes.

 

She twirled around for a second, laughing.

 

Sans watched her from a safe distance away, ducking as a Knight Knight Guard stomped past. When Sans stood back up, he noticed Frisk twirling around in her flower crown, smiling brightly.

 

The short skeleton’s cheekbones slowly turned blue, and Papyrus and Flowey leaned over to smirk at him. Sans pretended not to notice them.

 

Frisk ran up and grabbed Sans’s hand excitedly, pulling him along to the vendors.

She carefully inspected each one, grinning at all the beautiful things they had for sale. Some of them were handmade jewelry, others had wonderful fruits. Sans watched with glowing eye lights as Frisk marveled over each and every new thing, her smile the brightest he’d ever seen.

 

They stopped at a bookstore as Frisk shrieked in delight and dragged him inside.

 

Sans chuckled. “What, you like reading?”

 

“I LOVE reading!” Frisk exclaimed happily, reaching for the shelves. “Maybe we can find that book Papyrus likes in here!”

 

“Guess we know how to get into his good ‘books’, huh?”

 

Frisk laughed and shoved him with the story she had grabbed, and then showed it to him.

 

“‘Robin Hood’, hm?” Sans wondered. “So he was Robin the Hood?”

 

Frisk curled up on the floor with the book in her arms, and he couldn’t help but grin as she picked several more to add to her pile.

 

He inspected the first page of ‘Robin Hood’, and then, making a split second decision, sat down next to Frisk.

 

“A long time ago, in Sherwood Forest...”

 

——————

 

“Cupcakes?” Frisk asked, watching as Sans handed her the frosted treat.

 

“Yep. These are so good, you’ll love ‘em.” Sans herded Frisk away from the Whimsalot Guard that was walking by and let her bite into the cake.

 

“You’re right, this IS good!” Frisk mumbled in surprise. She took another bite decisively.

 

“Uh, you’ve got something right...” Sans trailed off, slowly turning blue. Frisk watched curiously.

 

“I What?”

 

The skeleton reached up with his hand and thumbed a bit of frosting off her cheek, his blue cheekbones darkening.

 

“Oh, thanks!” Frisk laughed brightly, digging into her food.

 

—————

 

Frisk watched curiously as the dinosaur monster set one of his flower crowns in front of the biggest painting on the whole city: Two large angles. One black robed with red eyes, and one white robed with gold eyes. They both had short brown hair.

 

“What’s that for?” Frisk asked, watching the monster bow for a second.

 

“The lost human princesses!” The monster grinned, looking at her. “Most think they’re dead, others think they used their inherited magic to escape.” He glanced at the painting wonderingly. “I just think the Legend is cool. After all, the Angels of Death and Life sound pretty interesting, huh?”

 

Frisk nodded mutely, recalling a reference to said Angels in a book she had read. The Angel of Death was lost to time, but the Angle of Life was lost to space. Some say that they still existed, perhaps stolen, or perhaps hidden away...

 

In any case, the whole reasons the humans hated the monsters was because of the loss of their only two heirs, and the incredible powers they had possessed.

 

—————

 

“Ta-da! Bought this for you,” Sans grinned cheekily, handing Frisk a tiny flag. “It’s the Delta Rune.”

 

Frisk recognized the symbol— it was everywhere in the kingdom, hanging or painted in any place it could. She grinned and held up the flag to the buildings, enjoying how the Angel wing symbols matched up.

 

“I DON’T KNOW IF YOU KNOW THIS, BUT THAT’S ACTUALLY A BIG DEAL FOR SANS. HE PREFERS NOT TO SPEND MONEY.”

 

“Shut up,” Sans grumbled under Flowey’s cackling.

 

“It’s beautiful,” Frisk breathed, hugging the tiny flag to her overalls.

 

Sans stared at her. “Really?”

 

“YOU DON’T HAVE TO BE SO OBVIOUS, BROTHER—“ Papyrus started before Sans kicked him in the shin.

 

—————

 

Frisk pulled the chalk across the street carefully, wiping sweat from her brow. Painting large things had always been hard, and apparently it was even harder when you were using chalk on the ground.

 

Frisk ruffled her choppy brown hair and sat up, wincing at how purple her hands were.

 

Well, such was the price to pay for art, she assumed.

 

Frisk stood up and cracked her back, grinning at the small children who were doodling things with chalk.

 

Many of them gasped in delight and squealed in awe, pointing at Frisk’s humongous blended picture of the Delta Rune.

 

One angel wing was black, and the other was white, and the triangles below had been done in a yellow similar to the magic of sparing. The angel circle itself was a bright, brilliant red.

 

Frisk grinned as the sun beat down on her work.

 

—————

 

“I JUST WISH YOU’D TOLD ME,” Papyrus mumbled sadly, picking at his bread loaf.

 

“I wanted to, bro, I really did,” Sans sighed. “I just... didn’t want to disappoint you. You’re so Great, you know? And I guess I knew I could never be like you.”

 

“OH SANS!” Papyrus practically wailed, pulling his brother into a hug. “YOU ARE THE MOST WONDERFUL BROTHER EVER. I WISH YOU HADN’T DONE SOME THINGS, BUT THAT’S IN THE PAST. YOU’RE NO WORSE THEN ROBIN HOOD.”

 

Sans laughed a little, weakly, his smile wavering. But his phalanges clung tightly to the back of Papyrus’s cape like he thought they might be ripped apart at any moment.

 

“I Forgive You,” Papyrus whispered, and Sans let out a choked sob.

 

They held onto each other like a lifeline, and Flowey, who was on the taller brother’s shoulder, scoffed.

 

“You guys are emotional wrecks,” he complained, but didn’t try to interrupt them.

 

—————

 

“Want a ‘dog?” Sans asked as they watched the vendors.

 

“Dog?” Frisk puzzled.

 

“Yeah. That’s right. ‘Dog. Apostrophe-dog. Short for hot dog. Ya want one?”

 

“Sure,” The human girl answered in amusement, smiling as Sans left. She turned and spotted the circle drawn in the town center, painted with a symbol of the Delta Rune.

 

“What’s that for?” Frisk wondered aloud, and a nearby bear monster looked at her.

 

“It’s for folk dancing,” he explained, and then was surprised when Frisk walked right up to him and grabbed his arm.

 

“Then let’s dance!”

 

She pulled the bear into the circle, spinning and laughing as he tried to start the dance. Frisk waltzed away from him and yanked a cat monster in by his forearm.

 

“I’m supposed to be work—“ he started, but trailed off as Frisk spun him into the circle gracefully.

 

The rest of the monsters noticed what was going on and stared laughing and clapping to the beat. One talented bird monster pulled out a fiddle and began playing a tune he knew to the dance.

 

Sans nodded to the hot dog vendor and turned around, blinking in surprise when he realized Frisk was gone. It only took him a second to find her, though— dancing in the middle of a huge crowd, her flower crown sparkling.

 

Frisk smiled brightly and grabbed three other monsters into the circle, all of them laughing as they started up the folk moves they had learned as children.

 

Sans folded his arms in pride, his smile stretching wider across his skull. Papyrus and Flowey stood behind him, watching Frisk lead the crowd.

 

With a laugh, the human girl pulled a rabbit woman in and then beckoned to Sans. The skeleton monster raised a bone brow and shook his head, amused.

 

Frisk beckoned again, Determined, and Sans probably would have refused if Papyrus hadn’t chosen that moment to shove Sans into the dance.

 

Sans shot a deadly glare at his little brother, who was just laughing heartily along with Flowey.

 

The sun was setting, casting a beautiful glow over the dancers as the monsters all cheered and spun together, the music growing louder as other instruments joined in.

 

Frisk waved to Sans across the circle, and the skeleton waved back, extending his arm in invitation to her.

 

They missed each other, each pulled away by a different partner.

 

The circle continued to spin, song joyfully echoing off the walls, as Frisk and Sans once again reached for each other. They were both caught on someone else’s arms, and continued to dance.

 

Frisk spun, feeling the last of the sun glow on her face, letting her hope and Determination shine.

 

The fiddler struck his last few chords, the crowd clapped the ending beat, and Frisk twirled right into Sans’s arms.

 

The skeleton and human stood there, holding each other’s hands as they tried to catch their breath. Sans marveled at the softness of the girl, how one person could radiate so much heat from their blood.

 

“To the boats!” A monster yelled out.

Frisk felt the bones under her hands and smiled in embarrassment, both of them pulling away when they realized the dance was done.

 

She brushed her hair aside, skipping in excitement along Sans and Papyrus to the docks. She was finally going to see the Star.

 

——————————————

 

Leo and Ben marches along quietly as the cloaked figures flanked them.

 

“Where are they again?” The leader asked, turning towards the lions.

 

“Uh... they’re going to the Capital,” Leo answered gruffly.

 

The leader nodded silently. She marched ahead, making no noise with her feet, but still exuding power.

 

“We’re getting closer, then,” She whispered, tilting her head to the side. “That crown and the Golden-Eyed One will be ours.”

 

Ben coughed.

 

“Oh, yes, and the skeleton too,” the leader added as an afterthought. “Hmm.” She froze. “They’re on the lake.”

 

Leo and Ben looked at each other, and stood carefully. “We’ve got this, Mi—“

 

“I will take care of it,” She snapped. “You will do exactly what I say to compromise the skeleton, and I will handle the girl.”

 

The lions nodded quickly. It’d only been a while, but the obeyed this creature completely.

 

She was scarily calm, most of the time, and extremely capable.

 

She held power over death.

 

 

 

 

 

...

 

“ _Hello, Partner.”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the fluffiest and most wholesome chapter in the story— it’s all downhill from here folks :3
> 
> Only a few chapters left, I’m excited!
> 
> Also, our boy Sansy is still in denial Oof.


	8. I See The Light

Sans pushed the boat out into the water, carefully slinging his legs over the side. Frisk was already in the structure, squealing happily as she watched the monsters all prepare for the Star.

 

She fiddled with her hands as Sans pushed the boat away from the dock, where Flowey and Papyrus were sitting a little mournfully.

 

“I got you guys some pasta,” Sans offered, handing a Tupperware to his brother. Papyrus inspected the food suspiciously, raising an eyebrow.

 

“Hey, I bought it!” Sans responded defensively as he rowed away. Papyrus, satisfied, opened up the container and took a bite.

 

“Most of it.”

 

Frisk sighed, leaning on her hands as she watched the sky. Even without THE Star, the sky was gorgeous at night. Her paintings didn’t really capture the true beauty of being completely vulnerable under the wide expanse of stars.

 

She pointed out constellations she had studied but never seen to Sans, who nodded and hummed his interest. After a while, the two just fell into peaceful quiet, watching the skies above.

 

“Ya know,” Sans murmured after a while, “I never understood why we celebrated this day. It’s actually more of a human holiday.”

 

“Really?” Frisk asked curiously, golden eyes not looking at him but at the sky.

 

“Yeah. Tonight’s about celebrating the Angels of Life and Death, who also happen to be the human princesses.” The skeleton sighed and leaned back against the boat. “Monsters believe in the Angels, of course, but it’s really the humans that miss ‘em so much.”

 

Frisk hummed understandingly, resting her chin on her hands.

 

They both watched the sky peacefully as, finally, from the distant Human Palace... a glimmer of magic appeared.

 

Frisk breathed in sharply, scrambling forward and almost out of the boat (causing it to tip). She watched with wide golden eyes as the shape formed into a Star, and brightly burned before floating up into the sky.

 

It was so... amazing. To really— be here. Be here for real and actual, after all this time.

 

She’d been so naive, stuck in her tower. Now she was here— for REAL— in the Real World. And she was accomplishing her dreams, for real. This was really happening.

 

Tears pricked at the corners of her eyes, and she rubbed at them with her fist gently.

 

“Sans?” She whispered.

 

“...yeah?”

 

“This is awesome. This is all I’ve wanted for so long. It feels like I’m... meant to be here.”

 

“Mhm.”

 

Frisk breathed in deeply, standing on her tiptoes and reaching up like she could touch the Star as it passed over their lake.

 

As it moved away, she slowly sat back down, wrapping her arms around her knees.

 

“...Sans?”

 

“Hm.”

 

“What are supposed to do... once you’ve achieved your dream?”

 

There was silence, and she felt the skeleton scoot closer to her. She blinked in surprise as he slung his arm over her shoulder and pulled her into his chest.

 

“Well, that’s the best part,” he whispered, and she could feel his breath on her ear. She wondered for a split second if skeletons needed to breathe. “You get to make a new dream.”

 

And as Frisk looked upwards into the stunning cosmos, curled up beside the thief she’d tricked into guiding her, watched by the Royal Guard monster she’d befriended and the flower she’d adopted...

 

She thought that maybe, Sans was right.

 

————————————

 

The cloaked human smiled to herself, sharpening her knife on her metal rod. Two lions fidget next to her.

 

“You can go now,” she said, level and sweet, and they both pounced into the shadows.

 

She grinned, and wasn’t worried at all.

 

————————————

 

“You get to make a new dream,” Sans whispered, leaning forward. It was taking all of his self restraint to not just lean forward and bury his face into Frisk’s soft-looking hair.

 

Really, every part of her was soft. Her skin, her clothes, her hair, the glow of her eyes...

 

Sans shut his eye sockets and just breathed in for a moment, smelling the water and the light smoke of candles.

 

Just two days ago, he’d been a thief on the run from the law. Fully prepared to steal to his hearts content, and to never let his brother know about his less-then-ideal lifestyle.

 

In the timespan of forty hours, a human girl had come and spun his life completely out of control. She was surprisingly naive, and surprisingly tough, but she changed him. She’d reconciled him with his brother. She’d taught him honor again.

 

She’d made him love.

 

Okay, wow, looks like he couldn’t even deny it any longer. He... had feelings for this human girl. The one curled up to his chest like she belonged there without a care in the entire world.

 

She was right earlier about... feeling like this was meant to happen. Sans had never been big on superstition, but something told him that this was meant to be. That... this was where he was supposed to go.

 

This was who he should be with.

 

Something in his Soul twinged, and Sans felt his face grow hot for a second. Frisk turned around and looked at him.

 

A small furrow had appeared between her eyebrows as she frowned at him in confusion. Her lips pursed up a little and her golden eyes were soft and warm as she stared into him.

 

“Sans? You’re all blue,” she whispered, voice soft as dew drops landing on grass.

 

He knew that. He knew that as well as he knew he could feel an odd pulsing and pounding in his throat, and some invisible drive that was prompting him to lean forward slowly...

 

And then Frisk was doing it was well, and her eyes were starting to close as their faces grew closer, and Sans only had a second to mourn the loss of those orbs of honey and sunshine when—

 

Sans froze, snapping out of whatever state he had been in, and stared over Frisk’s shoulder.

 

Her eyes opened once she realized that Sans hadn’t met her, and she followed his gaze. “What’s the matter?”

 

“There’s two lions over there on the bank,” he muttered, angry. Of course. Of course Leo and Ben would track him down and ruin everything when it was finally perfect—

 

“Oh,” Frisk sighed, and leaned back again away from him. Sans immediately regretted it and wished the sad look on her face would go away. “Sans, I have something for you.”

 

“You do?” The skeleton asked in surprise, momentarily forgetting the lions.

 

“Yeah, here,” Frisk tugged, out of one of her front pockets, the tiara. “This is yours. I know I shouldn’t have taken in the first place, but, hey, you got me here safely, so...” she placed the crown in his hands. “That was the deal.”

 

Sans stared at the jeweled artifact blankly. Leo and Ben... they were here to steal this, weren’t they? If he just gave it to them... maybe they’d go away. Maybe they’d leave Frisk alone.

 

He slowly grinned, reaching out to grab the rudder and slowly turn the boat towards the bank. When he pulled up into land, he jumped out of the vehicle, shoving the tiara into his pockets.

 

“Wh—where are you going?” Frisk asked nervously, watching him.

 

Sans turned and smiled at her, his eyelights sparkling like stars.

 

“I’m going to run a quick errand. Stay here, I’ll be right back.”

 

Frisk trembled as he walked away into the woods. She took a deep breath, settling herself. She needed to give Sans the benefit of doubt. She trusted him, didn’t she?

 

She waited.

 

And waited.

 

And grew more nervous.

 

This was it, wasn’t it? He was leaving. Toriel had been right all along. She should have listened to her mother...

 

Frisk finally got out of the boat, legs wobbly. She might as well go confirm that the skeleton she maybe-possibly-had-a-crush-on was actually gone and not just taking a really long time.

 

Frisk stumbled through the foliage, pushing the leaves out of her way in amateurish fashion. When she finally made it to a clearing, she looked around, and spotted the tiara on the grass.

 

Tiara, but... no Sans?

 

Frisk frowned and walked closer. That disproved her theory that he was going to take his treasure and leave, but then where was he?

 

And then Frisk was kicked in the back.

 

She yelled in fright and flipped around, punching blindly and completely missing her attacker. She did succeed in confusing him, though, and used that time to kick him in the stomach.

 

The lion doubled over, growling, and another one came at Frisk from her other side. This time she was prepared, and offered a weak punch in the lion’s direction. He snarled and knocked her away.

 

Frisk skidded across the ground, eyes narrowed. “Where. Is. Sans.”

 

One of the lions laughed. “What, do ya care or somethin’?”

 

Frisk ran up to him and smacked him in the face. “WHERE IS SANS?”

 

The other lion tackled her to the ground, and Frisk wriggled out from under him, adrenaline pumping. She was just small enough to dodge them.

 

Reaching down, she picked up a large stick from the forest floor, and held it in her hands threateningly.

 

The two lions laughed, and stalked closer, until—

 

BAM!

 

An explosion of fire lit the area.

 

Frisk was suddenly on the ground.

 

She was hearing... screaming? Or maybe singing...?

 

Darkness overtook her vision.

 

———————————

 

Sans marched along, smile plastered to his skull as he was pulled along, handcuffed, by the humans.

 

How had this happened? Of course, it made sense. Sans stole a Human treasure, so naturally it would be the humans who punished him for it. But it still felt scary.

 

Sans had never once been afraid going into prison— he’d broken out so many times that it hardly made him bat a non-existent eye. But this time it was different. It was a prison he had never been to before. And humans... well, humans were not as merciful as monsters were.

 

They could kill him.

 

And yet, even with death staring him in the face, Sans couldn’t think about it. He was much too focused on something else— Frisk’s safety.

 

She’d been left in that boat, near Leo and Ben. And since the lions apparently hadn’t wanted the crown from him at all, the only logical thing that they could want was—

 

Sans clenched his teeth hard.

 

As he was pushed down the prison hall, he risked talking to the guard. He tried an uncaring, cool tone that he usually used when arrested.

 

“So, boys, what am I being detained for?”

 

The two human men looked at each other, and then back at Sans, and then one clearer his throat.

 

“Stealing a crown, kidnapping a Determination Princess, betraying the truce, crossing the border, thievery, generally being a nuisance... really, you have like three death sentences at this point,” the guard went on, not noticing how the skeleton’s entire face had froze.

 

Kidnapping a Determination Princess?

 

“— _People_ _with Golden Eyes could just do anything—“_

_“— Not how it works, I control TIME—“_

_“— The Angel Of Life is lost to space—“_

_“— I’ve lived in the Ruins my whole life—“_

_“— it’s a song my mother taught me, it helps me feel Determined—“_

Sans’s breathing sped up, and he stopped walking, prompting the guards to shout.

 

“Where is she now?” Sans hissed through his teeth, fists clenching behind his back.

 

One human snorted. “Like we’d tell y—“

 

Sans ducked down under, flipping his cuffed wrists over his head and head butting the guard. When he crumpled, Sans spun and threw his arms over the other guard’s head, pressing his chains into the man’s neck.

 

“Where. Is. She. Now?”

 

“On— on her way,” the human coughed. “The other princess is bringing her to the human tower immediately—“

 

Sans kneed the guy in the temple, letting him fall to the ground. He’d heard enough.

 

———————————

 

Frisk was aware of a wet washcloth on her forehead, and something carding their fingers through her hair gently. When she woke, she saw the ceiling of her bedroom, and for just a second was completely peaceful.

 

And then she remembered everything that had happened, and sat up with a gasp.

 

“You shouldn’t move so quickly, my child,” Toriel said softly.

 

Frisk turned to look at her mother, who was sitting on the bed with her flower crown in hand.

 

Frisk looked at the crown for a good two seconds before bursting into tears. Toriel pulled the human into an embrace, nearly crushing her.

 

“I’m-I’m sorry, mom,” Frisk whimpered. “You were ri-right, and now I don’t even kn-know what happened t-to Sans, and h-he could be se-seriously hurt or-or worse!”

 

Toriel stroked Frisk’s back, softly singing a little song as she rocked the girl back and forth. Slowly, Frisk calmed down.

 

“Thanks,” The Human mumbled, sitting back up and scrubbing her face. “I just need some alone time.”

 

Toriel nodded, standing up. “I should go check outside anyway... I need to make sure we weren’t followed.”

 

Frisk nodded sadly, rubbing her face more as the goat woman left and shut the door.

 

Frisk leaned backwards into her bed, sighing. With a start, she realized there was something in her front pocket and slowly pulled out the flag Sans had bought her in town.

 

Frisk held up the flag, looking at the Delta Rune quietly. A small furrow appeared between her eyebrows as she noticed something weird.

 

She held the flag up slowly, matching it with the bunny painting she had done years ago.

 

But.. if she matched those ears with the Angel wings... and the flowers were the triangles...

 

Her bunny was shaped exactly like the Delta Rune.

 

Growing more confused by the minute, Frisk stepped out of bed, studying her own paintings on the wall.

 

The one with the constellations, there— if she lined up the shapes right—

 

The one of an angel whispering to mice—

 

The sun behind the three mountains—

 

They made Delta Runes, all of them— DELTA RUNES— because because BECAUSE—

 

— _the_ _symbol_ _on_ _her book as she learned etiquette —_

_— the mark on the door out of the kingdom —_

_— the painting in the city of colors and lights —_

_— the design on a teacup as big as her own head —_

She had seen it all _._ Seen it over and over _,_ growing up _,_ as she

_— was forced to learn how to be a princess —_

_— ran away, tears burning her golden eyes —_

_— entered a warm place full of good and kind creatures —_

_— had lunch with the king and queen of monsters —_

Collapsed on the floor _,_ holding her pounding head because her Determination was locked inside _,_ it needed to be let out by

_— the love for someone more then yourself —_

_— the talisman you protect with all your might —_

Screaming and wailing into the tower.

 

Frisk was the missing princess.

 

She was the MISSING PRINCESS.

 

“Mom!” Frisk yelled, stumbling down the stairs as she looked and searched for Toriel. “MOM!”

 

When she finally made it down the landing, there was someone waiting for her in the room.

 

The human had her black hood pulled back carelessly, her red-brown hair free to swish as she turned and focused on Frisk with her bright red eyes.

 

“Hey there, little sis!” Chara said cheerfully, grinning pleasantly. “Didja miss me?”

 

 

 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HOOO BOY YOU GUYS
> 
> This chapter went from 100 fluffiness to 100 angstiness real quick
> 
> Sans finally stepped out of de nile yeet
> 
> Also I’d like to say that I’ve finished moving houses! Updates should be more regular now! <3


End file.
